THE  LIBRARY 

OF 

THE  UNIVERSITY 

OF  CALIFORNIA 

IRVINE 

GIFT  OF 

LEISURE  WORLD  LIBRARY 
LACUNA     HILLS 


SAMUEL  DE  CHAMPLAIN 


THE  SUMMER  PARADISE 
IN  HISTORY 


A  COMPILATION   OF  FACT  AND   TRADITION 
COVERING  LAKE  GEORGE,  LAKE  CHAM- 
PLAIN,  THE  ADIRONDACK  MOUNTAINS, 
AND  OTHER  SECTIONS  REACHED 
BY  THE  RAIL  AND  STEAMER 
LINES  OF  THE  DELAWARE 
AND  HUDSON  COMPANY 


BY 
WARWICK  STEVENS  CARPENTER 


GENERAL  PASSENGER  DEPARTMENT 

THE  DELAWARE  AND  HUDSON  COMPANY 
ALBANY 


Copyright,  1914 

by 
A.  A.  HEARD 


AMERICAN  BANK  NOTE  COMPANY 


To  the  Members  of 

THE  NEW  YORK  STATE  HISTORICAL 
ASSOCIATION  and 

THE  LAKE  CHAMPLAIN  ASSOCIATION 

To  whose  efforts  are  so  largely  due  the  cherishing 
of  old  landmarks  and  the  recording  of  history  and 
tradition  in  the  territory  here  covered 

THIS  BOOK  IS  DEDICATED 


Great  islands  appeared,  leagues  in  extent:  Isle  &  la 
Motte,  Long  Island,  Grande  Isle.  Channels  where  ships 
might  float  and  broad  reaches  of  expanding  water 
stretched  before  them,  and  Champlain  entered  the  lake 

which  preserves  his  name  to  posterity 

Their  goal  was  the  rocky  promontory  where  Fort 
Ticonderoga  was  long  afterward  built.  Thence,  they 
would  pass  the  outlet  of  Lake  George,  and  launch  their 
canoes  again  on  that  Como  of  the  wilderness,  whose 
waters,  limpid  as  a  fountain-head,  stretched  far  south- 
ward between  their  flanking  mountains.  Landing  at 
the  future  site  of  Fort  William  Henry,  they  would  carry 
their  canoes  through  the  forest  to  the  River  Hudson, 
and,  descending  it,  attack,  perhaps,  some  outlying  town 
of  the  Mohawks.  In  the  next  century  this  chain  of 
lakes  and  rivers  became  the  grand  highway  of  savage 
and  civilized  war,  a  bloody  debatable  ground  linked 
to  memories  of  momentous  conflicts. 

— Francis  Parkman. 


FOREWORD 

HPHIS  volume  is  the  direct  outgrowth  of  the  "Literary  and  Historic 
•*•  Note  Book,"  covering  the  same  territory,  written  for  the  Pas- 
senger Department  of  the  Delaware  and  Hudson  Company  by  Mr. 
Henry  P.  Phelps,  and  published  in  1907.  It  appeared  as  a  booklet 
of  eighty  pages,  and  at  once  met  with  an  appreciation  which  has 
in  no  degree  abated  during  the  seven  years  of  its  circulation.  Since 
that  date  the  interest  which  had  already  developed  in  the  historic 
country  reached  by  the  Delaware  and  Hudson  lines  has  been  tremen- 
dously augmented,  a  fact  well  evidenced  by  the  attention  that 
historical  societies  and  other  organizations  are  giving  to  the  subject. 
Among  the  latter  may  be  mentioned  the  Glens  Falls  Insurance 
Company,  which  for  many  years  has  commissioned  some  of  the 
leading  American  artists  to  make  paintings  of  the  more  striking 
events.  These  pictures  have  been  reproduced  in  original  colors 
and  widely  distributed.  The  Champlain  Tercentenary  Celebration 
brought  popular  attention  to  a  clearer  focus,  and  it  has  been  further 
sustained  by  the  subsequent  completion  and  dedication  of  the 
memorials  at  Crown  Point  and  at  Plattsburg,  and  by  the  restoration 
and  preservation  of  the  two  old  forts  at  Ticonderoga  and  Crown 
Point.  This  interest  resulted  in  continued  requests  for  the  "Literary 
and  Historic  Note  Book,"  which  was  out  of  print,  and  indicated  the 
need  for  this  larger  and  more  complete  and  permanent  volume. 

Even  briefly  to  describe  every  event  of  romantic  or  historic 
moment  in  this  territory  would  have  required  many  times  the 
space  here  available.  Much  has  been  necessarily  eliminated,  but 
an  attempt  has  been  made  to  include  every  really  important  inci- 
dent and  those  minor  ones  which  are  of  particular  interest  to  that 
large  class  of  visitors  who  wish  to  know  the  history  of  their  Summer 
Paradise.  The  style  of  the  text,  that  of  separate  paragraphs  for 
each  event,  after  the  manner  of  Lossing's  well-known  "Cyclopaedia  of 
United  States  History,"  was  determined  by  the  need  of  such  vaca- 


tionists  for  much  data  that  could  not  well  be  put  into  connected 
form  in  a  small  volume.  A  synoptical  narrative  introduction,  cov- 
ering the  great  campaigns  for  the  control  of  the  Champlain  Valley, 
together  with  the  Chronology  which  follows,  are  designed  as  a 
background  against  which  each  paragraph  may  be  thrown  into 
relief  to  show  its  proper  relation  to  the  times  and  to  other  events. 

In  the  preparation  of  the  "Summer  Paradise  in  History"  part  of 
the  text  in  the  "Literary  and  Historic  Note  Book"  has  been  used, 
though  largely  revised  to  meet  the  requirements  of  the  present 
volume.  While  no  original  research  has  been  made,  many  authorities 
have  been  consulted,  and  material  drawn  from  them.  A  list  of  these 
appears  in  the  bibliography,  and  acknowledgment  of  indebtedness 
to  them  is  hereby  made. 

w.  s.  c. 

January  1,  1914 


ILLUSTRATIONS 

Cover  Design  from  Detail  of  Champlain  Memorial  at 
Plattsburg,  by  Carl  Augustus  Heber 

Samuel  de  Champlain Frontispiece 

Restoration  of  Fort  Ticonderoga 12 

Ruins  of  Fort  Ticonderoga Facing  16 

Embarkation  of  Abercrombie's  Expedition 17 

Plan  of  Abercrombie's  Attack  on  Carillon 18 

Battle  of  Lake  Champlain Facing  32 

Grave  of  Captain  Downie 33 

Monument  on  Crab  Island 33 

Bloody  Morning  Scout 37 

Statue  on  Site  of  Cooper's  Residence Facing  48 

Tablet  to  Commemorate  Dam  at  Otsego  Lake 48 

Scene  of  the  Battle  of  Lake  Champlain 49 

The  Stem-bridge  Lion 50 

Fort  St.  Frederic 58 

Lake  George  Battle  Monument Facing  64 

Ruins  at  Crown  Point 65 

Plan  of  Investment  of  Fort  William  Henry 66 

Jogues's  Island Facing  80 

High  Rock  Spring  in  1845 "  81 

Saratoga  as  It  Is  Today 81 

Two  Early  Steamers  on  Lake  Champlain 90 

Champlain  Memorial  at  Crown  Point Facing  96 

The  Black  Watch  at  Storming  of  Carillon "  97 

Champlain  Memorial  at  Plattsburg 112 

The  Deep  Clef  t  of  Split  Rock "  113 


CHRONOLOGY 

1609 — July  4th.    Samuel  de  Champlain  discovered  Lake  Champlain. 
— July  30th.    Champlain's  battle  with  the  Iroquoia  near  Fort 

Ticonderoga. 
— September.    Henry  Hudson  sailed  up  the  Hudson  River  to 

near  the  present  site  of  Albany,  and  went  in  a  small  boat 

to  the  falls  at  Troy. 

1614 — Dutch  built  Fort  Nassau  on  Castle  Island,  opposite  Albany. 

1624 — Dutch  built  Fort  Orange  on  mainland  where  Albany  now 
stands. 

1629 — Dutch  West  India  Company  established  the  Patroon  System, 
under  which  much  of  the  country  about  Albany  was 
settled. 

1641 — Fort  Richelieu  built  at  mouth  of  Richelieu  River. 

1642 — August.    Father  Jogues  first  white  man  to  see  Lake  George. 

1646 — Father  Jogues,  on  eve  of  Corpus  Christi,  May  30,  named  Lake 
George  Lac  du  St.  Sacrement. 

1664 — Fort  Richelieu  rebuilt,  and  Forts  St.  Louis,  at  Chambly,  and 

St.  Theresa  built. 

— English  obtained  possession  of  New  Netherland  and  changed 
its  name  to  New  York. 

1665 — Fort  St.  Anne  built  on  Isle  La  Motte. 

1666 — January.     1st  and  unsuccessful  expedition  of  the  French 

under  De  Courcelles  against  Iroquois. 
— October.    2d  and  successful  expedition  of  the  French  under 

De  Tracy  against  Iroquois. 
— Arendt  Van  Corlear,   returning  through   Lake  Champlain 

with  De  Tracy,  drowned  off  Split  Rock,  in  memory  of 

which  the  lake  was  long  called  Corlear's  Lake. 

1673 — Dutch  again  gained  control  of  New  York. 

1674 — New  York  passed  permanently  into  possession  of  England. 

1689— King  William's  War  began. 

1690 — February  8th.    Schenectady  Massacre. 

— August.  Winthrop's  expedition  against  the  French  proceeded 

to  Lake  Champlain  and  returned. 
— August.    Expedition  of  Capt.  John  Schuyler  against  French 

Fort  La  Prairie  on  the  St.  Lawrence. 


1691— June.    Capture  of  Fort  La  Prairie  by  Maj.  Philip  Schuyler. 

1693 — January  and  February.  Expedition  of  French  against 
Mohawk  towns,  during  which  battle  of  Wilton  was  fought 
near  Saratoga. 

1697— Treaty  of  Ryswick. 
1702 — Queen  Anne's  War  began. 

1709 — Nicholson's  expedition  against  the  French  advanced  as  far 
as  site  of  Fort  Anne,  building  a  road  through  the  wilderness 
from  Schuylerville  to  mouth  of  Wood  Creek,  along  route 
now  occupied  by  the  Delaware  and  Hudson  lines,  and 
Fort  Ingoldsby,  Fort  Miller,  Fort  Saratoga,  Fort  Schuyler 
and  Fort  Nicholson.  It  returned  without  delivering  a 
blow  after  destroying  forts  as  far  south  as  Saratoga. 

1713— Treaty  of  Utrecht. 

1731— Fort  St.  Frederic  built  at  Crown  Point. 

1744 — King  George's  War  began. 

1745 — November  17th.    Saratoga  Massacre. 

1746 — Fort  Clinton  rebuilt  on  site  of  old  Fort  Saratoga. 

1747 — Fort  Clinton  abandoned  and  burned. 

1748— Treaty  of  Aix-la-ChapeUe. 

1754 — First  Colonial  Congress  met  in  Albany  to  consider  plans  of 
union. 

1755 — Fort  Carillon  begun  by  the  French. 

— July.     Old  Fort  Nicholson  rebuilt  and  renamed  Fort  Edward. 
— August.     Fort  Hardy  built  on  the  site  of  Schuylerville  by 

Gen.  Phinehas  Lyman. 
— August  28th.     Gen.  William  Johnson  changed  name  of  Lac 

du  St.  Sacrement  to  Lake  George. 
— September  8th.     Battle  of  Lake  George. 
— Fort  William  Henry  begun  by  Johnson. 

1756 — Great  Britain  declared  war  against  France. 
— Fort  William  Henry  completed. 
— Fort  Carillon,  afterward  called  Ticonderoga,  completed. 

1757 — March  18th.  Vaudreuil  advanced  over  the  ice  on  Lake 
George  and  attacked  Fort  William  Henry,  burning  every- 
thing outside  of  the  walls. 

— July  26th.    Harbor  Island  Massacre. 

— August  10th.  Fort  William  Henry  taken  by  Montcalm  and 
garrison  massacred  by  Indians. 

1758 — July  5th-9th.  Abercrombie's  unsuccessful  expedition  against 
Ticonderoga. 


1759 — Fort  George  built  by  General  Amherst  near  site  of  Fort 

William  Henry. 
— July  27th.    Ticonderoga  abandoned  by  the  French  in  face  of 

Amherst's  advance. 

— July  31st.     Fort  St.  Frederic  destroyed  by  retreating  French. 
— August.    Amherst  commenced  rebuilding  St.  Frederic,  now 

called  Crown  Point. 
— September  14th.   Montcalm  died  at  Quebec,  following  Wolfe's 

capture  of  the  city. 
— October  13th.    Captain  Loring,  in  first  naval  battle  on  Lake 

Champlain,  defeated  a  French  schooner  and  three  sloops 

off  Valcour  Island. 

1760 — September    8th.     Montreal   surrendered    by    Vaudreuil    to 
English. 

1763 — First  attempt  at  settlement  of  Wyoming  Valley. 

— February  10th.     By  treaty  signed  at  Paris,   France   ceded 
all  her  possessions  in  North  America  to  Great  Britain. 

1771 — First  hotel  in  Saratoga  built  near  High  Rock  Spring. 

1775 — Revolutionary  War  began. 

— May  10th.    Ticonderoga  captured  by  Ethan  Allen. 

— May  12th.     Crown  Point  captured  by  Seth  Warner,  and  Fort 

George  by  Bernard  Romans. 
— September  4th.     General  Montgomery  embarked  at  Crown 

Point  on  expedition  against  Canada. 
— November  3d.     Montgomery,  advancing  against  Montreal, 

captured  St.  John  on  the  Richelieu  River. 

1776 — June  14th.    American  troops  in  Canada  began  to  withdraw 
up  the  Richelieu  River  and  reached  Crown  Point  July  3d. 
— October  llth.     Battle  of  Valcour  Island,  between  fleets  of 
Benedict  Arnold  and  Capt.  Thomas  Pringle. 

1777 — Burgoyne's  Campaign. 

— July  6th .    Ticonderoga  evacuated  before  Burgoyne's  advance . 

— July  7th.     Battle  of  Hubbardton. 

— July  24th.    Battle  of  Diamond  Island  on  Lake  George. 

— July  27th.    Jane  McCrea  murdered  by  Indians  of  Burgoyne's 

army. 
— September    19th.      Battle   of   Freeman's    Farm   or    Bemis 

Heights,  the  first  important  engagement  about  Saratoga, 

known  also  as  First  Battle  of  Saratoga. 
— October  7th.  Second  Battle  of  Saratoga. 
— October  17th.  Surrender  of  Burgoyne  at  Saratoga. 

1778— May  30th.    Cobleskill  Massacre. 
— July  3d.    Wyoming  Massacre. 
— November  llth.    Cherry  Valley  Massacre. 


1779 — July,  August  and  September.  Sullivan's  expedition  against 
Indians  and  Tories  of  western  New  York. 

1783 — Gen.  Philip  Schuyler  built  first  summer  residence  at  Saratoga 

Springs. 

— September  3d.  Treaty  of  peace  signed  at  Paris  between 
England  and  the  United  States. 

1807 — September  5th.  Fulton's  steamboat,  the  Clermont,  arrived 
in  Albany,  after  first  successful  trip. 

1809 — Steamer  Vermont  began  regular  service  on  Lake  Champlain, 
being  the  second  regularly  and  successfully  operated  steam- 
boat in  the  world. 

1812 — June  17th.    War  declared  against  Great  Britain. 

1813 — Lake  Champlain  Steamboat  Company,  known  later  as  Cham- 
plain  Transportation  Company,  chartered  by  New  York 
Legislature,  thus  making  the  Champlain  Transportation 
Company  the  oldest  steamboat  corporation  in  the  world. 
— June  3d.  Sloops  Growler  and  Eagle  sunk  by  British  in  the 
Richelieu  River. 

1814 — British,  under  Sir  George  Preyost,  invaded  the  United  States 
and  advanced  to  the  vicinity  of  Plattsburg  by  September 
4th,  while  the  British  squadron,  under  Captain  Downie, 
advanced  up  the  lake  to  Isle  La  Motte. 

— September  llth.  Battle  of  Lake  Champlain  between  Com- 
modore MacDonough  and  Captain  Downie,  and  Battle  of 
Plattsburg  on  land. 

— December  24th.  Treaty  of  Ghent  signed  by  United  States 
and  Great  Britain. 

1839 — Anti-Rent  Agitation  began  in  New  York  State. 

1846 — Constitutional  Convention  in  New  York  State  adopted 
amendments  abolishing  feudal  tenure,  thus  ending  Anti- 
Rent  Agitation. 

1909 — July  4th-10th.  Tercentenary  celebration  of  the  discovery 
of  Lake  Champlain. 

1912 — July  5th-6th.  Dedication  of  Champlain  Memorials  at 
Crown  Point  and  Plattsburg. 


INTRODUCTION 


THE  GATE  OF  THE  COUNTRY 

BESIDE  earth's  oldest  waterway  the  oldest  mountains  stand. 
Far  back  in  the  aeons  of  unrecorded  time,  beside  which  the 
longest  periods  of  history  and  tradition  are  as  fleeting  moments,  the 
great  crest  of  the  Laurentian  system  of  rocks,  the  Adirondacks, 
thrust  its  bold  peaks  above  the  primordial  ocean.  From  their  cul- 
mination they  extended  northward  and  eastward  to  Labrador  and 
ran  out  into  the  northwest.  Long  afterward  another  convulsion  up- 
reared  the  ridges  of  the  Appalachians,  a  slim  spur  of  which,  the 
Green  Mountains,  shot  parallel  to  the  Adirondacks.  In  the  tremen- 
dous strains  which  accompanied  this  second  disturbance,  long 
faults,  or  rifts,  appeared  at  the  edge  of  the  Laurentian  rocks.  The 
greatest  of  these  rifts  ran  northeasterly  and  southwesterly  to  form 
the  valley  of  the  St.  Lawrence  and  continued  more  southerly  beside 
the  base  of  the  Adirondacks,  through  the  Champlain  Valley.  There, 
on  the  eastern  edge  of  the  valley,  the  substrata  of  the  ocean  were 
lifted  gently  upward,  while  on  the  western  edge  they  sunk  precipitately 
to  form  the  rugged  cliffs  which  sweep  in  dizzying  lines  from  Port 
Henry  to  Bluff  Point.  Through  the  valley  thus  created  the  waters 
of  the  ancient  inland  sea  of  North  America  were  still  united  with 
the  ocean.  Subsequently  the  floor  of  the  valley  was  upheaved  until 
the  salt  water  of  the  sea  drained  out  and  left  a  fresh  water  lake,  but 
little  smaller  than  today.  It  flowed  sometimes  north  into  the  St. 
Lawrence  and  sometimes  south  into  the  great  interior  sea,  or  down 
through  the  Hudson  Valley,  according  to  the  tilting  of  the  land. 

Then  came  the  long  age  of  ice,  when  the  whole  northern  country 
was  subjected  to  the  grinding  of  the  glaciers,  which  brought  down 
vast  quantities  of  rock  and  other  deposits.  The  retreating  ice  left 
a  great  body  of  fresh  water  in  the  Champlain  Valley,  reaching  back 
into  Lake  George  and  the  depressions  of  the  Adirondacks,  the  out- 
let of  which  was  down  the  Hudson.  As  the  ice  receded  northward 
the  land  subsided,  until  at  last,  in  place  of  glacier  and  fresh  water 
in  the  valley,  the  ocean  again  rolled,  extending  southward  as  far  as 
Port  Henry,  followed  a  gradual  downward  tilt  of  the  longOhamplain 
and  Hudson  Valleys  at  the  south,  drowning  the  Hudson  a  hundred 


miles  below  Manhattan  and  raising  the  northern  end  of  the  lake  until 
the  waters  of  the  sea  ran  out.  In  the  basin  that  remained  lay  Lake 
Champlain,  its  ancient  valley  intact,  bordered  by  its  primitive  cliffs, 
and  making  natural  highway  from  the  great  seaport  on  the  south, 
where  once  it  flowed,  to  the  sister  port  at  the  north,  to  which  its 
waters  were  now  turned.  Thus  in  the  earliest  paroxysms  of  the  earth 
were  formed  the  conditions  which  have  made  this  great  route  the 
most  fiercely  contested  and  historic  highway  of  the  continent. 

Of  the  dark  ages  of  aboriginal  strife  we  know  practically  nothing. 
It  does  not  appear  that  the  long  lakeside  from  Fort  Wilh'am  Henry 
to  the  foot  of  Champlain  was  then  the  permanent  home  of  Indian 
tribes,  but  rather  that  they  made  it  their  highway  for  maraud- 
ing expeditions,  with  frequent  clashes  when  war  parties  met  along 
the  shores.  Certainly  this  was  the  condition  in  1609,  and  had  been 
long  previous,  when  Samuel  de  Champlain  and  his  barbarian  allies 
paddled  up  the  lake  on  their  memorable  voyage  of  discovery.  They 
had  reached  almost  to  the  carry  between  Lake  Champlain  and  Lake 
George,  which  wound  around  the  chiming  waters  of  Ticonderoga, 
when  the  first  of  those  savage  and  chance  encounters  to  be  recorded 
in  history  occurred.  With  the  help  of  their  French  supporters,  the 
Algonquins  of  the  north  were  triumphantly  victorious,  but  in  their 
success  on  the  still  unnamed  lake,  before  even  Henry  Hudson  had 
ascended  his  river,  was  decided  one  of  the  almost  forgotten  and  ap- 
parently unimportant  events  which,  it  is  hardly  exaggeration  to  say, 
determined  the  whole  aftercourse  of  history  in  North  America. 
By  it  was  incurred  the  deadly  enmity  of  the  powerful  tribes  of 
central  New  York,  and  by  it  the  French  occupation  of  the  valley 
of  the  St.  Lawrence  and  of  Lake  Champlain  was  hindered  and  set 
back.  Thus,  while  the  French  were  struggling  to  establish  their 
infant  colony  in  the  hostile  wilderness,  a  settlement  developed  at 
the  farther  end  of  the  long  valley  which  should  ultimately  gain 
the  ascendency. 

It  was  realized  in  the  beginning  that  the  struggle  must  come. 
During  Dutch  rule  at  Fort  Orange  and  New  Amsterdam,  punitive 
French  expeditions  pushed  southward  to  the  Indian  villages  along 
the  Mohawk,  and  adventurous  explorers  and  trappers,  the  first 
coureurs  de  bois,  who  have  spread  such  glamour  over  the  pages  of 
American  history,  had  penetrated  into  every  recess  of  the  country, 
and  knew  well  what  it  promised.  Similarly  the  Dutch,  in  the  security 
of  their  friendship  with  the  Iroquois,  had  acquired  first-hand  knowl- 
edge of  the  territory.  But  France  and  the  Netherlands  were  at  peace, 
and  their  far-flung  outposts  were  still  deeply  occupied  in  securing 
their  first  precarious  foothold. 


The  situation  rapidly  changed.  In  1674  England  permanently 
displaced  Dutch  rule  and  brought  her  great  resources  and  restless 
energy  to  the  struggling  province  of  New  York.  She  brought  also 
her  enmity  of  France  and  her  antagonism  to  French  ambition.  In 
1689,  as  a  direct  result  of  hostilities  between  the  two  parent  countries, 
King  William's  War  began  on  the  historic  highway.  It  was  well 
started  with  the  horrible  Massacre  of  Schenectady  in  February,  1690. 
Throughout  this  war  no  decisive  results  were  achieved,  though 
several  expeditions  were  launched  against  the  rival  settlements  and 
much  border  warfare  resulted. 

The  first  truce  was  called  in  1697,  when  the  Treaty  of  Ryswick 
was  signed  between  France  and  England.  It  was  of  short  duration. 
In  1702  the  two  countries  were  again  in  arms  on  the  other  side  of  the 
Atlantic,  in  what  was  known  there  as  the  War  of  the  Spanish  Succes- 
sion, and  in  America  as  Queen  Anne's  War.  It  was  not  until  1709 
that  an  important  move  was  made  here,  though  raids  were  many. 
In  that  year  occurred  Nicholson's  expedition,  which  advanced  as  far 
as  Fort  Anne  and  returned  without  striking  a  blow. 

The  treaty  of  Utrecht,  in  1713,  brought  a  lull  of  some  thirty  years, 
during  which  both  colonies  grew  rapidly  stronger.  Though  they 
were  at  peace,  the  French  founded  a  settlement  and  fort  at  Crown 
Point,  called  Fort  St.  Frederic.  In  1744  began  the  war  of  the  Aus- 
trian Succession,  which  is  recorded  in  American  history  as  King 
George's  War.  It  witnessed  the  Saratoga  Massacre  and  the  fall 
of  the  strong  French  fort  at  Louisburg,  on  Cape  Breton  Island. 
Louisburg  was  restored  to  France,  however,  by  the  Treaty  of  Aix- 
la-Chapelle,  in  1748.  Thus  in  America  the  struggle  had  been 
barren  of  results,  except  as  a  training  for  the  final  test  to  follow. 

In  full  knowledge  of  the  fact  that  this  test  was  now  imminent,  the 
French  proceeded  energetically  to  strengthen  their  position  during 
the  interval  of  peace.  Alarmed  by  these  activities,  the  colonists, 
in  the  summer  of  1755,  though  still  nominally  at  peace,  dispatched 
Gen.  Sir  William  Johnson  against  St.  Frederic,  and  the  French  began 
Fort  Carillon,  later  called  Ticonderoga.  It  was  the  first  move  in  the 
French  and  Indian  War,  which  was  formally  declared  by  England 
against  France  the  following  year.  In  1756  Fort  William  Henry, 
which  Johnson  had  begun  in  1755,  was  finished,  and  Carillon  was 
strengthened  and  practically  completed.  The  field  for  the  final 
desperate  struggle  was  determined  and  the  goals  set. 

The  first  advantage  was  secured  by  Montcalm,  when  in  1757  he 
captured  Fort  William  Henry,  and  its  garrison  was  massacred  by  his 
Indian  allies.  There  followed  the  abortive  expedition  of  Abercrom- 
bie  in  1758,  when  the  most  perfectly  appointed  and  powerful  army 


that  had  yet  been  raised  in  America  was  rolled  back  from  the  walls 
of  Carillon.  But  the  flood  of  English  determination  rose  higher  in 
1759,  sweeping  the  lilies  of  France  from  their  southern  ramparts  and 
ending  forever  their  dominion  on  the  inland  sea.  The  same  summer 
Quebec  fell  before  the  forlorn  attack  of  Wolfe,  and  in  1760  Montreal 
surrendered  to  the  English,  thus  closing  the  reign  of  France  in 
Canada. 

•  For  fifteen  years  peace  brooded  over  the  northern  war  trails. 
When  the  banners  were  again  unfurled,  in  1775,  they  heralded  a  new 
object.  Here  was  no  thought  of  territorial  aggrandizement.  But 
though  the  War  of  Independence  had  a  far  different  purpose  than 
the  old  struggles  with  the  French,  the  same  strategy  remained.  Of 
paramount  importance  was  the  control  of  the  Gate  of  the  Country. 

Who  held  this  historic  gateway  could  decide  the  fate  of  the  colonies 
and  of  dominion  upon  the  American  continent.  With  proper  prep- 
aration and  support  it  could  be  defended  at  many  points.  At 
Ticonderoga  the  French  had  built  Fort  Carillon  in  the  fond  hope 
that  it  would  secure  them  against  the  northward  advance  of  the 
British.  But  they  had  been  forced  to  retire  by  the  generalship  of 
Amherst.  A  few  miles  to  the  north  the  British  had  expended 
$10,000,000  upon  extensive  works  on  the  site  of  old  Fort  St.  Frederic. 
The  location  was  well  chosen,  and  had  Crown  Point  been  fully  armed 
and  garrisoned  it  might  have  proved  impregnable  against  any  attack. 
Again  at  Saratoga  was  a  strong  strategic  point  for  checking  an 
advancing  army.  At  the  dedication  of  the  Saratoga  Battle  Monu- 
ment, in  1877,  Horatio  Seymour  related  that  once,  as  General  Scott 
overlooked  from  an  elevated  point  the  ground  on  which  the  battle 
was  fought,  "the  old  warrior,  with  a  kindling  eye,  stretched  out  his 
arm,  and  said :  'Remember,  this  has  been  the  great  strategic  point  in 
all  the  wars  waged  for  the  control  of  this  continent! '  " 

In  1775  Ethan  Allen  and  Seth  Warner  seized  Ticonderoga  and 
Crown  Point,  possessing  without  bloodshed  the  Gate  of  the  Coun- 
try, which  was  held  the  following  year  by  Benedict  Arnold  and  his 
little  flotilla  against  the  first  southward  advance  of  the  British. 
But  a  year  later  Crown  Point  was  evacuated  by  the  colonists,  and 
when  Burgoyne  placed  his  guns  upon  Mt.  Defiance,  St.  Clair 
retreated  from  Ticonderoga.  A  single  determined  stand  remained 
to  the  Patriot  Army.  With  Burgoyne  defeated  at  Saratoga,  unable 
to  go  forward  or  retreat,  and  with  no  help  in  sight,  his  advance 
down  the  historic  highway  ended  in  failure  and  cast  its  influence 
over  the  whole  subsequent  trend  of  world  history. 

Another  similar  campaign,  following  the  same  old  strategy,  was 
launched  in  1814,  but  MacDonough,  with  his  hastily  assembled  and 


nondescript  fleet  manned  by  quickly  trained  levies  from  the  land 
forces,  "soldiers  and  sailors  too,"  nipped  the  plans  of  the  British  in 
the  bud  and  turned  back  the  last  armed  expedition  at  the  very 
threshold  of  the  door. 

Today,  the  gate  which  has  swung  both  ways  to  the  conquering 
armies  of  two  peoples  and  three  nations  stands  wide  and  unguarded, 
while  through  it,  forgetful  of  the  perils  of  ambuscade  and  war,  the 
citizens  of  all  three  nations  pass  unhindered.  The  war  routes  are 
still  used,  but  not  for  war  or  the  passage  of  armed  fleets.  Over 
them  and  along  the  bluff,  archaic  cliffs  of  the  oldest  valley,  from  the 
metropolis  of  one  great  country  to  the  metropolis  of  the  other, 
upon  glistening  bands  of  steel,  or  the  unchanged  expanse  of  the 
lakes,  ply  great  steam  shuttles,  weaving  stronger,  as  in  a  loom,  the 
bonds  of  continued  peace  and  prosperity. 


THE  SUMMER  PARADISE  IN  HISTORY 

ABERCROMBIE'S  EXPEDITION  was  commanded  by  Maj.- 
£\.  Gen.  James  Abercrombie,  who,  with  a  combined  army  of 
English  and  Colonial  troops,  marched  against  Ticonderoga  in  July, 
1758.  His  advance  from  the  present  site  of  Fort  William  Henry 
Hotel  down  through  the  long  vista  of  mountains,  islands  and  blue 
lake  was  as  inspiring  and  spectacular  as  his  retreat  was  pathetic. 
"Here,"  says  Parkman,  "on  the  ground  where  Johnson  had  beaten 
Dieskau  (see  Battle  of  Lake  George),  where  Montcalm  had  planted 
his  batteries,  and  Monro  vainly  defended  the  wooden  ramparts  of 
Fort  William  Henry  (q.  v.),  were  now  assembled  more  than  fifteen 
thousand  men;  and  the  shores,  the  foot  of  the  mountains,  and  the 
broken  plains  between  them  were  studded  thick  with  tents.  Of 
regulars  there  were  six  thousand  three  hundred  and  sixty-seven — 
officers  and  soldiers — and  of  provincials,  nine  thousand  and  thirty- 
four.  To  the  New  England  levies,  or  at  least  to  their  chaplains, 
the  expedition  seemed  a  crusade  against  the  abomination  of  Babylon; 
and  they  discoursed  in  their  sermons  of  Moses  sending  forth  Joshua 
against  Amalek.  Abercrombie,  raised  to  his  pla^e  by  political 
influence,  was  little  but  the  nominal  commander.  'A  heavy  man/ 
said  Wolfe  in  a  letter  to  his  father;  'an  aged  gentleman,  infirm  in 
body  and  mind,'  wrote  William  Parkman,  a  boy  of  seventeen,  who 
carried  a  musket  in  a  Massachusetts  regiment,  and  kept  in  his 
knapsack  a  dingy  little  notebook  in  which  he  jotted  down  what 
passed  each  day.  The  age  of  the  aged  gentleman  was  fifty-two. 
On  the  evening  of  the  fourth  of  July,  baggage,  stores  and  ammunition 
were  all  on  board  the  boats,  and  the  whole  army  embarked  on  the 
morning  of  the  fifth."  It  is  this  embarkation  which  F.  C.  Yohn 
has  painted,  as  shown  in  the  illustration  facing  page  17.  "The 
arrangements  were  perfect.  Each  corps  marched  without  confusion 
to  its  appointed  station  on  the  beach,  and  the  sun  was  scarcely 
above  the  ridge  of  French  Mountain  when  all  were  afloat.  A  spec- 
tator watching  them  from  the  shore  says  that  when  the  fleet  was 
three  miles  on  its  way,  the  surface  of  the  lake  at  that  distance  was 
completely  hidden  from  sight.  There  were  nine  hundred  bateaux, 
a  hundred  and  thirty-five  whaleboats,  and  a  large  number  of  heavy 
flatboats  carrying  the  artillery.  The  whole  advanced  in  three 
divisions — the  regulars  in  the  center  and  the  provincials  on  the 
flanks.  Each  corps  had  its  flags  and  its  music.  The  day  was  fair, 

[19] 


THE  SUMMER  PARADISE  IN  HISTORY 

and  men  and  officers  were  in  the  highest  spirits.  Before  ten  o'clock 
they  began  to  enter  the  Narrows;  and  the  boats  of  the  three  divisions 
extended  themselves  into  long  files  as  the  mountains  closed  on 
either  hand  upon  the  contracted  lake.  From  front  to  rear  the  line 
was  six  miles  long.  The  spectacle  was  superb — the  brightness  of 
the  summer  day;  the  romantic  beauty  of  the  scenery;  the  sheen 
and  sparkle  of  those  crystal  waters;  the  countless  islets,  tufted  with 
pine,  birch,  and  fir;  the  bordering  mountains,  with  their  green 
summits  and  sunny  crags;  the  flash  of  oars  and  glitter  of  weapons; 
the  banners,  the  varied  uniforms,  and  the  notes  of  bugle,  trumpet, 
bagpipe,  and  drum,  answered  and  prolonged  by  a  hundred  wood- 
land echoes.  'I  never  beheld  so  delightful  a  prospect,'  wrote  a 
wounded  officer  at  Albany  a  fortnight  after." 

They  landed  where  Montcalm,  with  less  than  a  fourth  of  their 
number,  awaited  the  attack.  Lord  Howe  (q.  v.),  a  brigadier-general 
attached  to  the  staff  of  Abercrombie,  had  a  far  greater  grasp  upon 
the  situation  than  Abercrombie  himself.  Previous  to  the  expedition, 
attired  in  the  simple  uniform  of  the  rangers,  he  had  reconnoitered 
the  vicinity  of  Ticonderoga  with  Lieut.  John  Stark  and  others, 
and  it  is  a  tradition  in  the  Stark  family  that  he  had  even  stood  with 
Stark  upon  the  top  of  Mt.  Defiance  and  had  remarked  to  him  that  a 
small  battery  upon  that  eminence  would  turn  the  trick  nicely. 
Chief  adviser  of  Abercrombie,  he  was  thus  in  position  to  materially 
influence  the  plan  of  attack.  As  the  English  advanced  in  three 
parallel  columns  from  the  foot  of  Lake  George,  firing  was  heard  in 
the  woods  to  one  side,  and  Howe  rushed  up  to  learn  its  cause.  It 
came  from  an  outpost  of  French,  one  of  whom  shot  him  as  he  broke 
through  the  bushes.  His  loss  was  irreparable,  and  thenceforth  the 
attack  proceeded  in  utter  defiance  of  reason. 

Montcalm's  men  were  almost  entirely  regular  troops,  and  they 
were  posted  on  high  ground  at  the  neck  of  the  peninsula  on  which 
the  fort  stands.  They  were  sheltered  behind  a  breastwork  of  trunks 
of  trees,  protected  in  front  by  a  vast  and  tangled  abattis.  Aber- 
crombie had  a  powerful  artillery  train,  but,  hearing  that  his  enemy 
would  soon  be  reinforced,  he  did  not  wait  to  bring  it  into  action,  and 
ordered  an  attack  with  musketry  alone.  The  battle  raged  from  one 
o'clock  till  evening  of  July  8.  The  English  displayed  desperate 
courage,  but  could  not  force  the  breastworks  and  abattis,  which,  in 
themselves  almost  impregnable,  were  defended  with  the  utmost 
gallantry.  At  night  the  assailants  withdrew  in  disorder,  with  the 
loss  of  two  thousand  men.  Though  the  English  were  defeated, 

[201 


THE  SUMMER  PARADISE  IN  HISTORY 

it  was  the  last  important  success  of  the  French  arms  on  the  con- 
tinent of  North  America. 

On  the  morning  after  his  victory  Montcalm  planted  on  the  field 
a  great  cross  inscribed  with  these  lines,  composed  by  himself: 

"Quid  dux?    quid  miles?  quid  strata  igentia  ligna? 

En  Signum!    en  victor!    Deus  hie,  deus  ipse  triumphal." 

"Soldiers  and  chief,  and  ramparts'  strength  are  naught; 
Behold  the  Conquering  Cross!    "Pis  God  the  triumph  wrought! " 

ADIRONDACK  MOUNTAINS  comprise  that  vast  system  of 
rugged  wilderness  extending  northward  from  the  neighborhood  of 
Saratoga  nearly  to  the  St.  Lawrence  River  and  westward  from 
Lake  George  and  Lake  Champlain,  occupying  almost  the  entire 
northeastern  corner  of  New  York.  They  form  part  of  the  great 
Laurentian  system  of  rocks,  which  constitutes  the  oldest  known 
portion  of  the  earth's  crust  to  be  thrust  above  the  primeval  sea. 
They  were  probably  at  no  time  the  permanent  abode  of  any  of  the 
aboriginal  inhabitants  of  the  country.  By  the  Iroquois  they  were 
called  the  Couch-sa-ra-ge,  or  Dismal  Wilderness,  and  were  a  favorite 
hunting  ground  of  that  nation.  Their  present  name  is  the  derisive 
term  which  the  Iroquois  applied  to  their  enemies,  the  Algonquins, 
"  Tree  Eaters, "  when  they  were  forced  to  subsist  upon  bark  and  roots. 

ADIRONDACK  WRITERS.  The  late  Rev.  W.  H.  H.  Murray, 
better  known  as  Adirondack  Murray,  has  been,  perhaps,  one  of  the 
widest  read  writers  on  this  subject.  He  published  "Camp  Life  in 
the  Adirondacks"  in  1868  and  "Adirondack  Tales"  in  1877,  both 
volumes  attracting  much  attention  and  some  criticism.  Before  this, 
however,  Alfred  B.  Street  had  published  "Woods  and  Waters, 
or  Summer  in  the  Saranacs"  (1865),  and  several  years  later 
"The  Indian  Pass,"  describing  explorations  in  Essex  county,  and 
"Lake  and  Mountain,  of  Autumn  in  the  Adirondacks."  Mr. 
Street  also  contributed  sixteen  poems  to  accompany  John  A.  Howe's 
"Forest  Pictures  in  the  Adirondacks,"  and  many  of  his  collected 
poems  are  tinged  with  the  same  local  color. 

Nathaniel  Bartlett  Sylvester  in  1877  published  "Historical 
Sketches  of  Northern  New  York  and  the  Adirondack  Wilderness, " 
a  work  which  contains  much  interesting  matter. 

Philander  Deming,  a  graceful  and  effective  writer  of  fiction,  has  a 
volume  of  "Adirondack  Stories,"  published  in  1886,  and  scattered 
through  the  magazines  are  scores  of  sketches  of  Adirondack  life  and 
scenery.  In  fact  there  is  probably  no  section  of  the  country  that 

[21] 


THE  SUMMER  PARADISE  IN  HISTORY 

has  inspired  more  prose  and  verse  with  forest,  lake  or  mountain 
setting  than  the  Adirondacks,  though  much  of  it  is  not  definitely 
localized  there. 

AIKEN'S  VOLUNTEERS  were  composed  of  seventeen  young 
men,  who,  though  too  young  to  be  liable  for  military  duty,  fought  at 
the  battle  of  Plattsburg  (q.  v.).  A  resolution  of  Congress,  passed 
in  May,  1826,  twelve  years  after  the  battle,  authorized  the  delivery 
to  each  of  "one  rifle  promised  to  them  by  General  Macomb,  while 
commanding  the  Champlain  Department,  for  their  services  as  a 
volunteer  corps,  during  the  siege  of  Plattsburg  in  September,  1814." 

A  LA  POCAHONTAS.  The  green  in  the  center  of  the  village  of 
Sandy  Hill,  now  Hudson  Falls,  is  said  to  have  been,  during  the  French 
and  Indian  War,  the  scene  of  an  incident  not  unlike  that  which 
befell  Captain  Smith  in  Virginia.  A  young  man  named  Quacken- 
boss,  of  Albany,  on  the  very  eve  of  his  marriage,  was  impressed  into 
the  public  service  as  a  wagoner  to  carry  provision  to  Fort  William 
Henry,  at  Lake  George.  After  passing  Fort  Edward  he  and  his 
escort  of  sixteen  men,  under  Lieutenant  McGinnis  of  New  Hampshire, 
were  surprised  by  Indians  under  Marin,  disarmed,  bound,  seated 
in  a  row,  and  deliberately  tomahawked,  one  by  one,  all  but  the 
wagoner,  who  seemed  to  have  found  favor  with  one  of  the  squaws 
during  a  brief  interval  preceding  the  execution.  She  arrested 
his  slayer's  arm,  pleading,  "He's  no  fighter;  he's  my  dog!"  Loaded 
down  with  plunder  like  a  packhorse,  he  was  then  marched  towards 
Canada;  at  the  first  Indian  encampment  on  Lake  Champlain  being 
compelled  to  run  the  gauntlet,  by  which  he  was  nearly  killed.  But 
his  Indian  angel  bound  up  his  wounds,  and  nursed  him  to  recovery. 
Subsequently  he  was  ransomed  by  the  governor  of  Canada,  and 
after  several  years  returned  to  Albany,  married  his  original  sweet- 
heart, and  lived  to  the  good  old  age  of  eighty-three. 

ALBANY  is  the  capital  of  the  State  of  New  York,  and  seat  of  the 
operating  offices  of  the  Delaware  and  Hudson  Company. 

"O  Albany,  O  Albany, 
Sweet  is  the  tender  melody 
Of  thy  old  Latin  name  to  me." 

— Monahan. 

It  was  first  visited  by  French  fur  traders,  who,  following  the 
discovery  of  the  mouth  of  the  Hudson  River  by  Verrazano,  in 
1524,  made  expeditions  to  the  head  of  navigation  for  the  purpose  of 

[22] 


THE  SUMMER  PARADISE  IN  HISTORY 

bartering  with  the  Indians.  About  1540  they  began  the  construc- 
tion of  a  fortified  trading  post  on  Castle  Island,  which  then  stood 
on  the  east  side  of  the  river  near  Rensselaer,  though  it  has  since 
become  a  part  of  the  mainland.  The  post  was  seriously  injured  by  a 
freshet,  however,  and  abandoned.  Henry  Hudson  arrived  in  his 
little  ship,  the  "Half-Moon,"  in  1609,  and  he  was  followed  in  1615  by 
a  party  of  Dutch  traders,  who  rebuilt  the  old  stone  "castle"  of  the 
French,  on  Castle  Island,  and  named  it  Fort  Nassau.  It  was  well 
located  to  secure  the  traffic  of  the  Iroquois.  The  falls  of  the  Mohawk, 
near  its  mouth  at  Cohoes,  made  that  river  impassable  for  the  canoes 
of  the  Indians,  and  accordingly  a  carry  from  the  Mohawk  at  Schenec- 
tady  ran  overland  to  the  Hudson  at  Albany.  Thus  Albany  in  the 
earliest  times  was  the  junction  of  the  great  routes  of  travel  to  the 
north  and  west,  as  it  is  today.  Fort  Nassau  was  damaged  by  high 
water  in  1618  and  was  not  restored. 

In  1624  the  Dutch  West  India  Company,  which  had  been  incor- 
porated in  1621  for  the  special  purpose  of  trading  in  America, 
sent  out  thirty  families,  who  built  Fort  Orange  on  the  mainland 
where  Albany  now  stands.  Its  site  is  now  marked  by  a  bronze 
tablet  in  Steamboat  Square,  just  east  of  the  bend  in  Broadway, 
upon  which  the  following  inscription  appears: 

"Upon  this  spot,  washed  by  the  tide,  stood  the  North  East 
bastion  of  Fort  Orange,  erected  about  1623.  Here  the  powerful 
Iroquois  met  the  deputies  of  this  and  other  colonies  in  con- 
ference to  establish  treaties.  Here  the  first  courts  were  held. 
Here  in  1643,  under  the  direction  of  Dominie  Johannes  Mega- 
polensis,  a  learned  and  estimable  minister,  the  earliest  church 
was  erected  North  West  of  the  fort,  and  to  the  South  of  it 
stood  the  dominie's  house." 

Finding  the  sending  of  settlers  too  expensive,  the  Dutch  West 
India  Company  in  1629  adopted  the  method  of  granting  manorial 
rights,  known  as  the  Patroon  System  (q.  v.).  Kiliaen  Van  Rensse- 
laer secured  the  first  concession,  purchased  from  the  Mohawks  a 
long  tract  upon  the  Hudson,  including  the  present  site  of  Albany, 
and  began  its  colonization  in  1630,  naming  it  Rensselaerwyck.  In 
1652  Pieter  Stuyvesant  named  the  district  immediately  surrounding 
Fort  Orange  "Dorpe  Beverswyck"  (Beaver  District  Village).  In 
1664,  upon  the  transfer  of  New  Netherlands  to  the  English,  the 
name  was  changed  to  Albany.  Nine  years  later,  when  the  Dutch 
again  obtained  possession  of  the  province,  it  was  rechristened 
Willemstadt,  but  the  following  year,  1674,  it  passed  back  to  the 
English  and  was  again  called  Albany. 

[23] 


THE  SUMMER  PARADISE  IN  HISTORY 

Albany  was  chartered  as  a  city  by  Governor  Dongan  in  1686,  the 
first  mayor  being  Peter  Schuyler.  (See  Schuyler  Family.)  During 
the  French  and  Indian  War  the  city  was  a  military  storehouse  and 
place  of  refuge,  made  secure  by  a  fort  and  a  stockade.  The  stockade 
took  up  a  large  section,  reaching  from  the  head  of  State  Street,  below 
the  present  Capitol,  where  about  1676  Fort  Frederic  (q.  v.)  was 
built,  to  the  bank  of  the  river,  and  from  the  site  of  the  Union  Depot 
as  far  south  as  a  point  near  the  present  junction  of  South  Pearl  and 
Beaver  Streets.  Thus  this  old  line  of  defence,  which  was  completed 
in  the  spring  of  1660,  included  nearly  all  the  present  business  section 
of  Albany.  At  no  time,  however,  was  it  captured  or  even  assaulted. 
Here,  in  1754,  was  held  the  first  General  Continental  Congress,  com- 
missioners of  seven  colonies  meeting  to  consider  a  plan  of  permanent 
union.  In  1797  Albany  was  made  the  capital  of  the  State,  and  as 
such  a  political  center  of  activity  and  importance. 

The  celebration  in  1886  of  the  bi-centennial  of  the  city's  incor- 
poration brought  into  prominence  many  events  of  historical  interest, 
and  also  resulted  hi  the  erection  of  a  number  of  bronze  tablets  at 
the  more  important  points,  on  which  much  historical  information 
is  concisely  and  vividly  recorded.  A  tablet  in  front  of  the  Van 
Benthuysen  Building  on  Broadway  marks  the  site  of  the  Southeast 
Gate  in  the  old  stockade.  Here  also  stood  the  second  City  Hall, 
"in  which  the  Congress  of  1754  met  and  prepared  a  Union  of  the 
several  Colonies  for  mutual  defense  and  security.  .  .  .  On  this 
ground  was  the  house  where  lived  Pieter  Schuyler,  the  first  and  for 
eight  successive  years  mayor  of  this  city."  A  tablet  on  North  Pearl 
Street,  opposite  the  Delaware  and  Hudson  Building,  marks  the 
Northwest  Gate,  and  also  the  spot  where  Governor  DeWitt  Clinton, 
father  of  the  Erie  Canal,  died  on  February  11, 1828.  On  the  north- 
west corner  of  the  Union  Passenger  Station  a  tablet  commemorates 
the  Northeast  Gate.  It  bears  the  following  inscription: 

"A  little  to  the  East  of  this  spot  stood  the  North  East  Gate 
of  the  city.  Here  it  was  that  Symon  Schermerhorn  at  five 
o'clock  in  the  morning,  'Die  Sabbithi,'  February  9,  1690,  after 
a  hard  ride  by  the  way  of  Niskayuna  in  the  intense  cold  and 
deep  snow,  shot  in  the  thigh  and  his  horse  wounded,  arrived 
with  just  enough  strength  to  awaken  the  guard  and  alarm  the 
people  of  Albany  with  the  news  'Yt  ye  French  and  Indians 
nave  murthered  ye  people  of  Skinnechtady!'  Symon's  son 
and  negroes  were  killed  on  that  fatal  night.  Symon  died  in 
New  York,  1696.  To  the  north  was  the  road  to  the  Canadas. 
Through  this  gate  passed  many  of  the  troops  at  various  times 
rendezvoused  at  Albany.  The  remains  of  Lord  Howe  were 
brought  back  this  way,  and  Burgoyne  returned  a  prisoner." 

[24] 


THE  SUMMER  PARADISE  IN  HISTORY 

After  the  lapse  of  more  than  two  hundred  and  fifty  years  since 
the  building  of  the  Northeast  Gate,  "the  road  to  the  Canadas" 
still  leaves  from  this  point.  The  log  palisade  is  gone,  and  the  wooden 
gate  has  crumbled  to  dust.  In  its  place  stands  an  impressive  struc- 
ture of  steel  and  stone,  the  Northeast  Gate  as  of  old,  through  which 
pass  now  in  a  single  summer  more  vacationists  bound  for  the  his- 
toric country  to  the  north  than  the  number  of  all  the  armies  that 
fought  for  its  possession. 

On  the  southeast  corner  of  State  Street  and  South  Pearl  Street  a 
tablet  commemorates  the  site  of  the  oldest  building  in  Albany. 
Here  Gen.  Philip  Schuyler  was  born,  and  also  Elizabeth  Schuyler, 
who  became  the  wife  of  Alexander  Hamilton.  "Adjoining  on  the 
west  was  the  famous  Lewis  Tavern.  South  Pearl  Street  was  for- 
merly Washington  Street,  and  was  but  twelve  feet  wide,  having  a 
gate  at  this  place.  This  house  was  called  the  Staats  House,  and  was 
more  elaborately  furnished  than  other  houses  of  the  time,  being 
wainscoted  and  ornamented  with  tiles  and  carvings.  It  was  the 
house  of  Mayor  John  Schuyler."  Many  other  tablets  are  scattered 
in  different  parts  of  the  city,  testifying  to  the  important  position 
which  Albany  has  always  held  in  the  affairs  of  the  Colonies  and  of 
the  nation. 

ALGONQUINS  were  a  group  of  Indian  tribes  living  north  of 
the  St.  Lawrence  river  when  Champlain  first  entered  its  mouth. 
They  were  closely  related  to  the  Hurons  and  other  tribes  extending 
far  into  the  northwest,  and  to  the  Mohicans,  Pequots,  Narragansetts, 
and  other  New  England  tribes,  and  to  still  others  occupying  a  part 
of  southeastern  New  York,  Virginia,  Pennsylvania  and  New  Jersey. 
They  had  long  been  at  deadly  war  with  the  Iroquoia  (q.  v.),  of 
central  New  York,  who  were  distinguished  from  the  Algonquins 
and  related  tribes  by  a  radical  difference  of  language.  Thus  they 
allied  themselves  readily  with  the  French  in  their  campaigns  against 
the  English,  as  the  Iroquois  fought  with  the  English  against  the 
French.  Remnants  of  the  Algonquin  tribes  are  still  to  be  found, 
mostly  in  the  provinces  of  Quebec  and  Ontario. 

ALLEN,  ETHAN,  was  one  of  the  most  picturesque  heroes  of 
the  days  of  '76.  "In  1766  he  went  to  the  then  almost  unsettled 
domain  between  the  Green  Mountains  and  Lake  Champlain,  where 
he  was  a  bold  leader  of  the  settlers  on  the  New  Hampshire  Grants 
in  their  bitter  controversy  with  the  authorities  of  New  York.  Dur- 
ing the  controversy  several  pamphlets  were  written  by  Allen,  in  his 

[25] 


THE  SUMMER  PARADISE  IN  HISTORY 

peculiar  Btyle,  which  forcibly  illustrated  the  injustice  of  the  action 
of  the  New  York  authorities.  The  latter  declared  Allen  an  outlaw, 
and  offered  a  reward  of  one  hundred  and  fifty  pounds  for  his  arrest. 
He  defied  his  enemies,  and  persisted  in  his  course.  Early  in  May, 
1775,  he  led  a  few  men  and  took  the  fortress  of  Ticonderoga  by 
surprise.  His  followers  were  called  'Green  Mountain  Boys.'  His 
success  as  a  partisan  caused  him  to  be  sent  twice  into  Canada  during 
the  latter  half  of  1775  to  win  the  people  over  to  the  republican 
cause.  In  the  last  of  these  expeditions  he  attempted,  with  Colonel 
Brown,  to  capture  Montreal  (Sept.  25,  1775),  but  was  made  a 
prisoner  himself  and  sent  to  England  in  irons,  whence,  after  a  con- 
finement of  some  weeks,  he  was  sent  to  Halifax.  Five  months 
later  he  was  removed  to  New  York.  On  the  6th  of  May,  1778,  he 
was  exchanged,  after  a  captivity  of  about  two  years,  for  Colonel 
Campbell,  and  returned  home,  where  he  was  received  with  joy  and 
honors.  He  was  invested  with  the  chief  command  of  the  State 
militia.  Congress  immediately  gave  him  the  commission  of  lieu- 
tenant-colonel in  the  Continental  army.  When,  in  the  course  of  the 
war,  Vermont  assumed  and  maintained  an  independent  position,  a 
fruitless  attempt  was  made  by  Beverly  Robinson  to  bribe  Allen  to 
lend  his  support  to  a  union  of  that  province  with  Canada.  He  was 
supposed  to  be  disaffected  towards  the  revolted  colonies,  and  he 
fostered  that  impression  in  order  to  secure  the  neutrality  of  the 
British  towards  his  Mountain  State  until  the  close  of  the  war.  As 
a  member  of  the  legislature  of  Vermont,  and  as  a  delegate  in  Con- 
gress, he  secured  the  great  object  of  his  efforts — namely,  the  ulti- 
mate recognition  of  Vermont  as  an  independent  State.  He  removed 
to  Bennington  before  the  close  of  the  war,  thence  to  Arlington,  and 
finally  died  in  Burlington."  (passing's  "Cyclopaedia  of  U.  S.  His- 
tory.") His  most  memorable  utterance,  upon  demanding  the  sur- 
render of  Fort  Ticonderoga  (q.  v.),  "In  the  name  of  the  Great 
Jehovah  and  the  Continental  Congress,"  has  been  otherwise 

reported,  as  "In  the  name  of  the  Continental  Congress,  and  by 

I'll  have  it."    A  more  likely  version  is  "Surrender,  you old 

rat,"  quoted  by  one  of  his  followers. 

ANTI-RENTISM  grew  out  of  an  attempt  to  enforce  certain 
provisions  of  the  old  Patroon  (q.v.)  System — Albany,  Rensselaer  and 
Delaware,  among  other  counties,  being  greatly  excited  for  a  number 
of  years  following  the  death  of  the  last  of  the  patroons  in  1839. 
Bands  of  men  disguised  as  Indians  tarred  and  feathered,  and,  in 
several  instances,  murdered  officers  of  the  law,  and  two  men  were 

[26] 


THE  SUMMER  PARADISE  IN  HISTORY 

sentenced  to  death  and  twenty  more  to  State  prison,  only  to  be 
pardoned  by  Governor  Young,  who  was  elected  on  the  anti-rent  issue. 
The  matter  was  finally  settled  by  the  Constitutional  Convention  of 
1846,  which  adopted  amendments  definitely  abolishing  all  feudal 
tenures,  and  forbidding  leases  of  agricultural  lands  for  a  period  of 
more  than  twelve  years.  A  number  of  Cooper's  novels,  "Satanstoe," 
"The  Chain-Bearer,"  "The  Redskins,"  are  concerned  with  the 
anti-rent  issue. 

ARMORER'S  ERRAND.  Among  the  messengers  sent  out  by 
Ethan  Allen  to  collect  forces  for  his  attack  on  Ticonderoga  was 
Maj.  Gershom  Beach,  a  blacksmith,  who  went  on  foot  to  Rutland, 
Pittsford,  Brandon,  Middlebury,  Whiting  and  Shoreham,  making 
a  circuit  of  sixty  miles  in  twenty-four  hours.  This  is  one  of  the 
remarkable  episodes  of  the  American  Revolution,  and  one  that  has 
never  received  the  recognition  that  it  deserves.  The  ride  of  Paul 
Revere  was  a  holiday  excursion  compared  with  the  journey  of 
Gershom  Beach.  Every  step  had  to  be  taken  on  foot  "through  a 
country  practically  without  roads,  an  expanse  of  forest  broken 
only  at  long  intervals  by  a  little  clearing.  The  messenger  must 
climb  steep  hills,  thread  his  way  through  the  valleys,  avoid  swamps, 
and  cross  unbridged  streams.  As  night  fell,  still  he  must  hold  to  a 
course  not  easily  followed  by  daylight,  and  pause  to  arouse  each 
family  from  sleep."  (Crockett.)  Mrs.  Julia  C.  R.  Dorr,  the  Ver- 
mont poet,  has  written  of  the  journey  of  Beach  in  a  poem  entitled 
"The  Armorer's  Errand": 

"Blacksmith  and  armorer  stout  was  he, 
First  in  the  fight  and  first  in  the  breach, 
And  first  in  the  work  where  a  man  should  be." 


"He  threaded  the  valleys,  he  climbed  the  hills, 

He  forded  the  rivers,  he  leaped  the  rills. 

While  still  to  his  call,  like  minute  men, 

Booted  and  spurred,  from  mount  and  glen, 

The  settlers  rallied.    But  on  he  went, 

Like  an  arrow  shot  from  a  bow,  unspent, 

Down  the  long  vale  of  the  Otter  to  where 

The  might  of  the  waterfall  thundered  in  air; 

Then  across  to  the  lake,  six  leagues  and  more, 

Where  Hand's  Cove  lay  in  the  bending  shore. 

The  goal  was  reached.    He  dropped  to  the  ground. 

In  a  deep  ravine,  without  word  or  sound; 

And  sleep,  the  restorer,  bade  him  rest, 

Like  a  weary  child,  on  the  earth's  brown  breast." 

[27] 


THE  SUMMER  PARADISE  IN  HISTORY 

ARNOLD,  BENEDICT,  whose  name  is  written  in  the  history  of 
America  with  letters  of  infamy,  might  well  have  been  remembered 
as  one  of  the  nation's  greatest  patriots  and  benefactors.  It  seems 
evident,  however,  that  the  honorable  part  of  his  career  in  the  Revo- 
lution is  traceable  more  to  personal  bravery,  to  ambition,  and  to 
spontaneous  reaction  to  the  conditions  in  which  he  found  himself, 
than  to  deep-rooted  attachment  to  the  cause  of  independence.  His 
services  to  the  country,  nevertheless,  were  no  less  valuable  on  this 
account.  He  claimed  to  have  conceived  the  idea  of  capturing 
Ticonderoga,  and  was  commissioned  a  colonel  by  the  Massachusetts 
Committee  of  Safety  for  the  accomplishment  of  this  object.  Finding 
Ethan  Allen  and  others  already  embarked  upon  a  similar  mission, 
he  deferred  to  Allen  and  joined  the  expedition  as  a  volunteer.  Later 
he  commanded  an  expedition  against  Quebec,  which  marched 
northward  through  the  entire  extent  of  the  Maine  wilderness,  after 
which  he  went  up  Lake  Champlain  to  Ticonderoga,  where  he  was 
placed  in  command  of  a  fleet  on  the  lake.  His  engagement  with  the 
British  under  Carleton  (see  Battle  of  Valcour)  was  the  first  naval 
conflict  with  the  mother  country.  He  was  largely  responsible  for 
the  defeat  of  Burgoyne  in  the  battle  of  Saratoga  (q.  v.),  where  he 
was  severely  wounded.  After  a  reprimand  by  Washington,  ordered 
by  the  Continental  Congress  because  of  fraudulent  transactions 
while  he  was  military  governor  of  Philadelphia,  he  plotted  to  betray 
the  country,  his  plans  being  all  but  consummated  at  West  Point  in 
September,  1780. 

AUSABLE  RIVER  rises  in  Indian  Pass  but  a  short  distance 
from  the  source  of  the  Hudson,  and  takes  its  tumultuous  course 
northward  and  eastward,  passing  near  its  mouth  through  a  tre- 
mendous rocky  chasm  which  has  become  world-famous  as  one  of 
the  natural  wonders  of  this  continent.  It  takes  its  name  from  its 
sandy  bed  near  its  mouth  the  French  word  for  sand  being  sable. 


BAKER,  CAPT.  REMEMBER,  one  of  the  most  prominent 
and  daring  leaders  of  the  Green  Mountain  Boys,  was  killed  by 
Indians  near  the  mouth  of  the  Lacolle  River,  a  tributary  of  the 
Richelieu,  while  on  scout  service  in  connection  with  Montgomery's 
Expedition  (q.  v.)  to  Canada  in  August,  1775.  He  is  said  to  have 
been  the  first  American  killed  on  Canadian  soil  during  the  Revolu- 
tionary War.  A  tablet  to  his  memory  has  been  erected  on  Isle 
La  Motte.  (See  Commemorative  Boulder  on  Isle  La  Motte.) 

[28] 


THE  SUMMER  PARADISE  IN  HISTORY 

BAKER'S  FALLS  is  the  local  name  for  the  falls  on  the  Hudson 
River  at  Hudson  Falls,  so  named  from  Albert  Baker,  the  first 
settler,  who  built  a  sawmill  there  in  1768.  The  fall  from  the  crest 
of  Richard's  Dam  to  the  foot  of  Baker's  Falls  is  about  eighty-five 
feet,  making  the  water-power  at  Hudson  Falls  second  only  to  Niagara 
Falls  in  the  State  of  New  York. 

BALLSTON  SPA,  although  less  widely  known  than  Saratoga 
Springs,  is  really,  of  the  two,  the  original  resort.  Hither  (although 
some  authorities  claim  it  was  the  High  Rock  spring)  in  1767  was 
brought  by  his  Indian  friends  Sir  William  Johnson,  when  very  ill, 
and  here  he  quickly  recovered  his  health,  and  returned  to  his  home 
and  Indian  mistress  in  Johnstown.  Ballston  suffered  a  "northern 
invasion"  in  the  fall  of  1780,  when  Captain  Munroe,  formerly  a 
trader  in  Schenectady,  headed  a  detachment  of  Major  Carleton's 
band  of  Tories  and  Mohawk  Indians,  devastating,  plundering,  and 
taking  prisoners.  (See  Carleton's  Raid.) 

BATTLE  OF  DIAMOND  ISLAND.  Following  the  capture  of 
Ticonderoga  by  Burgoyne,  in  1777  (see  Burgoyne's  Campaign), 
large  quantities  of  supplies  were  placed  on  Diamond  Island  in  Lake 
George,  under  guard  of  two  companies  of  the  British.  Here  they 
were  attacked  by  Colonels  Brown  and  Warner  of  the  American  army 
on  July  24th,  but  without  success.  Brown  and  Warner  thereupon 
retired  to  the  east  side  of  the  lake,  burned  their  boats  and  retreated 
through  the  woods  to  Paulet,  Vermont. 

BATTLE  OF  HUBBARDTON.  Upon  the  evacuation  of  Fort 
Ticonderoga  by  the  American  troops  in  July,  1777  (see  Burgoyne's 
Campaign),  a  portion  of  the  American  army,  acting  as  a  rear  guard 
to  St.  Glair's  retreating  orces,  took  up  a  position  at  Hubbardton, 
where  they  were  attacked  by  the  British  on  the  morning  of  the  8th. 
The  British  were  held  in  .check  for  some  time,  but  receiving  a  rein- 
forcement of  Hessian  troops  under  Baron  Riedesel,  the  Americans 
were  obliged  to  give  way.  It  is  here  that  tradition  credits  Col. 
Seth  Warner,  who  was  in  command,  with  shouting  to  his  men, 
"Take  to  the  woods,  boys,  and  meet  me  at  Manchester."  They 
vanished  from  the  sight  of  the  astonished  British  and  Hessians 
like  mist  before  the  morning  sun. 

BATTLE  OF  LAKE  CHAMPLAIN.  One  of  the  most  important 
naval  engagements  of  the  War  of  1812  was  fought  off  the  town  of 
Plattsburg,  September  11,  1814,  between  a  British  fleet  under 

[29] 


THE  SUMMER  PARADISE  IN  HISTORY 

Capt.  George  Downie  and  an  American  squadron  under  Commodore 
Thomas  MacDonough.  In  August  a  British  army  of  about  12,000 
under  Sir  George  Prevost  advanced  along  the  western  shore  of  the 
lake  to  Plattsburg,  which  was  held  by  General  Macomb  with  about 
1500  men,  the  object  being  to  penetrate  to  the  Hudson  as  Burgoyne 
had  attempted  to  do  in  1777.  To  effect  this  movement  it  was 
necessary  to  dispose  of  the  American  fleet,  consisting  of  fourteen 
vessels  of  all  classes,  carrying  86  guns  and  850  men. 

Anticipating  the  arrival  of  the  British,  MacDonough  had  extended 
his  fleet  across  the  entrance  of  Cumberland  Bay,  from  Crab  Island 
on  the  south  to  near  Cumberland  Head  on  the  north.  They  were 
all  at  anchor,  this  being  the  one  naval  battle  of  consequence  in  which 
the  vessels  of  either  side  remained  at  anchor  during  the  entire  engage- 
ment. MacDonough,  however,  had  taken  the  precaution  to  drop 
auxiliary  anchors  astern  of  each  ship,  with  cables  running  to  their 
bows,  by  which  they  could  be  readily  swung  around.  It  was  this 
brilliant  maneuver  which  decided  the  action.  When  the  British 
appeared  around  Cumberland  Head,  MacDonough  assembled  the 
crew  of  his  flagship  on  the  quarter-deck,  where  he  knelt  and  com- 
mended his  men,  his  cause  and  himself  to  the  Leader  of  Hosts.  The 
British  fleet  consisted  of  sixteen  vessels,  carrying  95  guns  and  937 
men.  Fire  was  opened  by  the  Americans,  but  not  returned  until  the 
British  flagship,  the  "Confiance,"  had  reached  a  position  opposite  the 
head  of  the  American  column.  Both  fleets  were  then  anchored  in 
long  lines,  parallel  to  each  other.  The  first  broadside  of  the  "Con- 
fiance"  killed  or  wounded  forty  men  on  the  "Saratoga,"  MacDonough's 
flagship — nearly  one-fifth  of  her  force.  The  engagement  at  once 
became  general.  On  the  "Saratoga"  a  hencoop  was  shot  away  and  a 
rooster,  released,  flew  into  the  rigging,  where  he  remained  flapping 
his  wings  and  crowing  until  the  action  ceased.  Within  an  hour  the 
starboard  battery  of  the  "Saratoga"  was  disabled,  whereupon  the  cable 
to  her  auxiliary  anchor  was  manned  and  the  ship  swung  around 
until  her  port  battery  was  brought  to  bear  upon  the  "Confiance." 
The  remainder  of  the  fleet  executed  the  same  maneuver  and  raked  the 
British  vessels  with  galling  effect.  Captain  Downie  of  the '  'Confiance" 
was  killed,  and  all  of  the  ships  in  the  British  squadron  were  so  badly 
shot  to  pieces  that  they  were  in  a  sinking  condition.  After  two  and 
a  hah*  hours  of  this  desperate  fighting  the  British  flag  was  struck. 
The  Americans,  however,  were  in  no  condition  to  press  their  victory 
further.  Not  a  mast  in  either  fleet  was  fit  to  carry  sail.  The  British 
finally  managed  to  limp  off,  while  the  Americans  remained  at  anchor. 

[30] 


THE  SUMMER  PARADISE  IN  HISTORY 

Immediately  upon  the  cessation  of  the  battle,  the  land  attack  of  the 
British,  which  had  begun  with  the  appearance  of  the  fleet  around 
Cumberland  Head,  was  abandoned.  (See  Plattsburg.)  Thus  ended 
the  second  attempt  of  the  British  arms  to  control  the  Champlain 
Valley. 

The  soldiers  and  sailors  of  both  fleets  who  were  killed  in  the  fight 
were  later  buried  on  Crab  Island  (q.  v.),  where  a  monument  has  been 
erected  to  their  memory.  In  the  Plattsburg  cemetery,  across  the 
bay,  Captain  Downie  and  the  British  and  American  officers  who  fell 
with  him  were  interred,  where,  after  the  lapse  of  a  hundred  years, 
lie  friend  and  foe  alike,  a  flag  with  the  emblem  of  the  Grand  Army 
of  the  Republic  marking  the  graves  of  each. 

The  British  loss  was  about  two  hundred,  including  prisoners; 
the  killed  and  wounded  Americans  numbering  one  hundred  and 
twelve.  The  British  lost  all  but  twenty  of  the  ninety-five  guns  they 
brought  into  action.  During  most  of  the  fight  MacDonough  pointed 
a  favorite  gun,  and  was  twice  knocked  senseless.  For  his  services 
he  was  made  captain,  received  a  gold  medal  from  Congress,  and  was 
presented  by  the  legislature  of  Vermont  with  an  estate  on  Cumber- 
land Head,  overlooking  the  scene  of  the  engagement.  At  the  time 
of  the  action  his  official  rank  was  that  of  master  commandant,  though 
he  was  then  popularly  called  commodore.  It  was  not  until  later 
that  he  was  regularly  commissioned  a  commodore  in  the  navy. 

The  last  eye-witness  of  the  Battle  of  Lake  Champlain  was  prob- 
ably Benajah  Phelps,  who  died  in  Colorado  Springs,  November  25, 
1903,  at  the  age  of  one  hundred  and  three.  His  story  of  the  engage- 
ment, as  related  to  J.  E.  Tuttle,  was  printed  in  the  Outlook  for 
November  2,  1901. 

BATTLE  OF  LAKE  GEORGE  was  fought  September  8,  1755, 
in  three  distinct  engagements.  Baron  Dieskau,  in  command  of  six 
hundred  Indians,  as  many  Canadians,  and  two  hundred  French 
regulars,  ascended  Lake  Champlain  intending  to  attack  Fort  Lyman, 
afterwards  Fort  Edward  (q.  v.),  but  for  some  reason  turned  towards 
Lake  George,  where  Gen.  Sir  William  Johnson's  army  of  colonists  on 
an  expedition  for  the  capture  of  Crown  Point  were  encamped.  In 
the  vicinity  of  the  present  Williams  Monument  (q.  v.),  the  French 
surprised  and  engaged  1,000  New  England  militia,  under  Colonel 
Williams,  and  their  allies,  two  hundred  Mohawks.  Colonel  Williams 
was  killed  and  his  men  put  to  flight.  As  they  retreated  towards  the 
lake  three  hundred  were  sent  out  to  succor  them,  and  the  fighting 

[31] 


THE  SUMMER  PARADISE  IN  HISTORY 

was  resumed  near  the  English  camp;  General  Johnson  being  in  com- 
mand till  wounded,  when  Gen.  Phinehas  Lyman  succeeded  him.  The 
savage  allies  of  the  French  were  inclined  to  skulk,  the  Canadians 
were  frightened,  and  Dieskau's  regulars  had  to  bear  the  brunt  of  the 
battle.  Nearly  all  of  them  were  killed,  and  Dieskau  was  wounded 
and  taken  prisoner.  The  same  day  at  sunset  a  party  of  French, 
who  had  halted  at  Bloody  Pond,  were  surprised  and  routed  by  a 
detachment  from  Fort  Lyman  with  such  results  as  gave  this  bit 
of  water  its  sanguinary  name.  In  all,  the  casualties  of  the  day  were, 
of  the  French,  nearly  four  hundred;  of  the  English,  two  hundred 
and  sixty-two.  For  this  victory  General  Johnson  received  the  thanks 
of  Parliament,  and  was  voted  five  thousand  pounds  and  created  a 
baronet,  but  General  Lyman  was  not  mentioned  in  the  report,  and 
received  no  honors. 

The  battle  monument,  erected  in  1903,  stands  in  the  State  reserva- 
tion of  thirty-five  acres,  at  the  head  of  the  lake. 

BATTLE  OF  LACOLLE  was  an  indecisive  engagement  between 
the  Americans  and  British,  fought  at  Lacolle,  north  of  Plattsburg, 
March  30,  1814.  It  was  one  of  the  preliminaries  in  the  defence  of 
the  Champlain  Valley  against  the  southward  advance  of  the  British. 
(See  Plattsburg  and  Battle  of  Lake  Champlain.) 

BATTLE  OF  SARATOGA.  Two  important  battles  of  the 
Revolution  are  known  by  this  name,  because  fought  on  nearly  the 
same  ground  and  by  practically  the  same  forces;  the  one  September 
19,  the  other  October  7,  1777.  The  first  is  also  known  as  the 
battle  of  Freeman's  Farm,  first  battle  of  Stillwater,  and  first  battle 
of  Bemis  Heights;  the  second  also  as  that  of  Bemis  Heights  and  of 
Stillwater.  The  first,  in  which  each  side  lost  from  six  hundred  to 
one  thousand,  was  indecisive;  the  second  was  followed  ten  days 
later  by  the  surrender  of  Burgoyne  and  his  army.  (See  Burgoyne's 
Campaign.) 

At  Bemis  Heights,  nine  miles  south  of  old  Saratoga,  now  Schuyler- 
ville,  Burgoyne  encountered  the  entrenched  Americans  under  Gates, 
and  September  19th  attempted  to  turn  their  left.  In  this,  after 
two  hours'  desperate  fighting,  he  was  frustrated  by  Gen.  Benedict 
Arnold,  assisted  by  Gen.  Dan  Morgan,  and  would  then,  perhaps, 
have  been  disastrously  defeated  had  Arnold  been  properly  sup- 
ported. This  not  being  done,  a  quarrel  arose  between  Gates  and 
Arnold,  and  the  latter  asked  and  received  permission  to  return  to 
Philadelphia.  He  finally  yielded,  however,  to  the  wishes  of  many 

[32] 


GRAVE   OF   CAPTAIN    DOWNIE   AND   BRITISH    AND   AMERICAN   OFFICERS    WHO 
FELL  IN  BATTLES  OF  LAKE  CHAMPLAIN  AND  PLATTSBURG 


MONUMENT   ON   CRAB   ISLAND  TO  THE  SOLDIERS  AND  SAILORS  WHO  FELL  IN 
BATTLES  OF  PLATTSBURG  AND  LAKE  CHAMPLAIN 


THE  SUMMER  PARADISE  IN  HISTORY 

officers,  who  knowing  a  decisive  battle  was  imminent,  and  having  no 
confidence  in  Gates,  begged  him  to  remain.  At  the  decisive  moment, 
on  October  7th,  he  rushed  upon  the  field  without  orders,  and  together 
with  Gen.  Dan  Morgan  (q.  v.)  and  Gen.  Enoch  Poor  (q.  v.),  in  a 
series  of  magnificent  charges,  broke  through  the  enemy's  lines, 
putting  them  to  flight  and  winning  the  victory.  Just  at  the  close 
of  the  battle  Arnold  was  severely  wounded  and  was  taken  on  a 
litter  to  Albany,  where  he  remained  disabled  till  the  following 
spring. 

During  the  night  Burgoyne  retreated  and  took  up  a  strong  posi- 
tion about  twelve  miles  from  Saratoga  Springs  (at  Schuylerville), 
where,  entirely  surrounded,  his  supplies  cut  off,  with  no  hope  of 
relief,  which  he  had  expected  from  the  south  and  west,  and  the 
American  army  every  day  growing  stronger,  he  surrendered  to 
General  Gates  on  October  17th.  The  victory  roused  the  wildest 
enthusiasm  throughout  the  country,  and  was  the  determining  event 
that  led  France  to  her  alliance  with  the  United  States.  (See  Saratoga 
Battle  Monument.) 

"We  are  told  that,  during  more  than  twenty  centuries  of  war  and 
bloodshed,  only  fifteen  battles  have  been  decisive  of  lasting  results. 
The  contest  of  Saratoga  is  one  of  these.  From  the  battle  of  Marathon 
to  the  field  of  Waterloo,  a  period  of  more  than  2,000  years,  there  was 
no  martial  event  which  had  greater  influence  than  that  which  took 
place  on  the  battlefield  of  Saratoga." — Horatio  Seymour. 

BATTLE  ON  SNOWSHOES  is  one  of  the  inexact  designations 
which  has  often  been  applied  to  the  engagement  between  Rogers's 
rangers  and  the  French  on  March  13,  1758.  It  was  one  of  the 
brushes  which  the  uncompromising  outposts  of  the  British  army, 
the  backwoodsmen  of  the  ranger  corps,  were  continually  having, 
which  had  no  decisive  results  whatever  save  as  a  check  to  French 
raids,  and  which  are  worth  recording  and  treasuring  in  memory 
simply  because  of  the  indomitable  determination  with  which  they 
were  carried  through.  On  this  particular  occasion  Rogers  had  been 
dispatched  with  one  hundred  and  eighty  men  to  attack  a  French 
outpost  at  Ticonderoga.  He  proceeded  up  Lake  George  to  near 
the  vicinity  of  the  mountain  which  now  bears  his  name,  where  he 
crossed  over  to  the  western  side  of  the  range  and  marched  his  men 
down  Trout  Brook.  He  observed  every  precaution  in  his  advance 
and  kept  a  portion  of  his  men  in  the  rear  as  a  reserve.  The  French, 
however,  had  warning  of  his  approach,  and  instead  of  encountering 

[33] 


THE  SUMMER  PARADISE  IN  HISTORY 

an  outpost,  he  met  first  a  email  detachment  and  was  immediately 
thereafter  attacked  by  a  force  of  upward  of  six  hundred.  In  the 
pitched  battle  which  ensued,  ninety-nine  of  Rogers's  little  command 
were  killed,  or  more  than  one-half,  and  many  others  were  wounded. 
The  details  of  this  fight  in  the  deep  snow  and  bitter  cold,  as  drawn 
from  Rogers's  own  report  in  his  private  Journal,  afford  one  of  the 
most  vivid  pictures  of  the  desperate  fighting  of  the  times  of  which 
we  have  record. 

"Rogers  retreated  with  the  remainder  of  his  party  in  the  best 
manner  possible.  Several  men,  who  were  wounded  and  fatigued, 
were  taken  by  the  savages  who  pursued  his  retreat.  He  reached 
Lake  George  in  the  evening,  where  he  was  joined  by  several  wounded 
men.  From  this  place  an  express  was  dispatched  to  Colonel  Haviland  for 
assistance  to  bring  in  the  wounded.  The  party  passed  the  night  with- 
out fire  or  blankets,  which  were  lost  with  their  knapsacks.  The 
night  was  extremely  cold,  and  the  wounded  suffered  much  pain, 
but  behaved  in  a  manner  consistent  with  their  conduct  in  the  action. 

"In  the  morning  the  party  proceeded  up  the  lake,  and  at  Hoop 
Island  met  Capt.  John  Stark  bringing  to  their  relief  provisions, 
blankets  and  sleighs.  They  encamped  on  the  island,  and  passed 
the  night  with  good  fires.  On  the  evening  of  March  15th  they 
arrived  at  Fort  Edward." — Caleb  Stark. 

BATTLE  OF  VALCOUR.  The  first  naval  conflict  between 
Great  Britain  and  the  Colonies  was  fought  off  the  southwestern 
shore  of  Valcour  Island  in  Lake  Champlain  on  October  11,  1776. 
The  American  fleet  under  Benedict  Arnold  consisted  of  one  sloop, 
two  schooners,  four  galleys  and  eight  gondolas.  Preparatory  to  an 
attempt  to  seize  Fort  Ticonderoga  and  gain  command  of  the  lake, 
the  British  had  built  a  fleet  at  St.  Johns,  on  the  Richelieu  River, 
which  was  far  superior,  consisting  of  twenty-nine  vessels  in  all. 
Arnold  had  taken  up  a  position  between  Valcour  Island  and  the 
mainland.  The  British  wore  around  the  southern  end  of  the  island 
in  the  face  of  a  heavy  wind  and  engaged  first  the  "Royal  Savage," 
Arnold's  flagship,  which  had  advanced  to  meet  them.  Finding  the 
fire  too  heavy,  Arnold  attempted  to  return  to  the  line,  but  his  vessel 
grounded  on  Valcour  Island  and  was  abandoned.  The  remains  of 
the  hull  are  still  to  be  seen,  when  the  water  is  clear,  but  a  short 
distance  from  the  shore.  The  battle  continued  all  day,  the  heavy 
wind  from  the  northwest  making  it  difficult  for  the  English  vessels 
to  work  within  range.  Under  cover  of  darkness  and  storm  Arnold 

[34] 


THE  SUMMER  PARADISE  IN  HISTORY 

slipped  through  their  lines,  which  had  been  extended  to  hold  him, 
and  set  sail  for  Crown  Point.  The  next  day,  October  12th,  he  re- 
paired some  of  his  vessels  in  the  shelter  of  Schuyler  Island,  and  it  is 
a  tradition  of  the  lake  that  while  lying  there  he  dressed  his  masts 
with  green  boughs  to  escape  detection.  A  number  of  his  vessels 
had  sunk  or  gone  aground,  but  setting  sail  for  Crown  Point  with 
those  that  were  left  he  was  overtaken  by  Captain  Pringle  on  the 
13th,  and  a  running  fight  ensued,  as  a  result  of  which  Arnold  finally 
ran  the  remainder  of  his  fleet  ashore  in  what  is  now  Arnold  Bay, 
and  after  setting  the  ships  on  fire  retreated  through  the  woods  to 
Crown  Point.  The  British,  although  victorious  in  this  battle,  were 
so  discouraged  at  their  losses  that  they  retired  to  Montreal  for  the 
whiter.  Thus  Arnold  by  his  bravery  and  skill  set  back  the  English 
invasion  of  the  Champlain  Valley  for  a  full  year. 

BATTLE  OF  WILTON.  Following  the  expedition  of  Maj. 
Peter  Schuyler  in  1691  against  the  French  settlement  of  La  Prairie 
(q.  v.),  Count  Frontenac  determined  to  strike  a  blow  in  retaliation 
upon  the  Mohawk  Indians  who  had  assisted  in  the  attack.  ''  Accord- 
ingly, in  January,  1693,  he  sent  a  force  of  six  hundred  and  twenty-five 
men,  including  Indians,  who  passed  down  over  the  old  trail  that  led 
from  Lake  George  to  the  bend  of  the  Hudson  above  Glens  Falls, 
and  from  thence  through  Wilton,  Greenfield,  and  along  the  brow 
of  the  Kay-ad-ros-se-ra  range  to  the  Mohawk  castles.  On  its  return 
march  over  this  trail,  the  war  party  was  followed  by  Maj.  Peter 
Schuyler  and  his  forces,  who  overtook  it  in  the  town  of  Greenfield, 
or  Wilton,  Saratoga  county.  Near  the  old  Indian  Pass  over  the 
Palmerstown  range,  on  the  border  of  Wilton,  almost,  if  not  quite, 
in  sight  of  Saratoga  Springs,  in  the  month  of  February,  1693,  a 
battle  was  fought,  or  rather  a  series  of  engagements  took  place,  in 
which  the  French  loss  amounted  in  all  to  thirty-three  killed  and 
twenty-six  wounded.  At  the  conclusion  of  the  fight  the  French 
retreated  towards  the  Hudson.  It  had  been  thawing  and  the  ice 
was  floating  in  the  river.  When  the  French  arrived  on  its  banks 
a  large  cake  of  ice  had  lodged  in  the  bend  of  the  stream.  The  French 
crossed  over  on  this  cake  of  ice  in  safety,  but  before  their  pursuers 
came  up  it  had  floated  away,  leaving  them  no  means  of  crossing, 
and  the  chase  was  relinquished." — Sylvester. 

BETTYS,  JOSEPH,  a  native  of  Saratoga  county,  was  among 
those  taken  prisoner  by  the  British  at  the  naval  battle  on  Lake 
Champlain,  October  13,  1776  (see  Battle  of  Valcour),  and  joined 

[35] 


THE  SUMMER  PARADISE  IN  HISTORY 

the  royal  standard,  becoming  a  spy.  He  was  once  saved  from  the 
gallows  by  Washington,  who  listened  to  the  intercession  of  the  spy's 
aged  parents,  on  his  promise  to  be  loyal.  But  he  rejoined  the  enemy, 
and  for  a  long  time  his  cold-blooded  murders  his  plundering  and  his 
incendiarism  made  him  a  terror  to  the  whole  region  about  Albany, 
till,  in  1782,  he  was  caught  and  hanged  in  that  city  as  a  spy  and 
a  traitor. 

BLACK  WATCH  MEMORIAL  is  a  Library  and  Historical 
Building  in  Ticonderoga  Village,  and  is  unique  as  a  memorial  in  a 
Yankee  village  to  a  British  Regiment.  The  Black  Watch,  "black" 
from  its  somber  tartan,  and  "watch"  because  formed  to  keep-  order 
in  the  Highlands,  otherwise  known  as  the  42d  Royal  Highlanders, 
is  the  oldest  Highland  Regiment  in  the  British  Army  It  was  em- 
bodied in  1739  from  independent  companies,  and  no  British  Regiment 
has  a  more  honorable  record  for  distinguished  service  performed 
in  every  part  of  the  globe.  It  sustained  a  loss  of  seven  officers  and 
three  hundred  and  six  rank  and  file  killed,  and  seventeen  officers  and 
three  hundred  and  sixteen  rank  and  file  wounded,  out  of  a  total 
strength  of  one  thousand  engaged  in  the  desperate  assault  on  the 
French  lines  at  Fort  Ticonderoga,  July  8, 1758.  (See  Abercrombie's 
Expedition.)  The  extent  of  this  casualty  can  be  better  comprehended 
when  it  is  realized  that  it  is  twice  as  high  a  percentage  as  the  loss  of 
the  Light  Brigade  at  Balaklava,  immortalized  by  Tennyson.  The 
Black  Watch  assisted  in  the  capture  of  Fort  Ticonderoga  by  Amherst 
in  1759.  A  Bronze  Tablet  in  the  reading  room  of  the  Memorial 
Building  was  presented  in  1906  by  the  officers  of  the  regiment  and 
unveiled  by  Maj.  D.  L.  Wilson  Farquharson,  who  came  from 
Scotland  to  make  the  presentation. 

BLOODY  MORNING  SCOUT.  Gen.  Sir  William  Johnson, 
while  in  camp  at  the  head  of  Lake  George,  close  to  the  present  site 
of  Fort  William  Henry  Hotel,  learned  that  Dieskau  had  left  Ticon- 
deroga and  was  advancing  with  a  strong  party  to  wards  Fort  Ed  ward. 
He  thereupon  sent  Col.  Ephraim  Williams  with  reinforcements 
towards  the  fort.  They  were  ambushed  en  route  by  Dieskau  and 
driven  back.  Fighting  continued  through  the  day,  at  the  end  of 
which  the  French  were  routed.  Much  of  it  occurred  near  a  small 
pond  south  of  Fort  William  Henry  Hotel,  from  which  it  received  its 
name  of  Bloody  Pond,  and  the  engagement  in  which  Williams  was 
killed  that  of  the  Bloody  Morning  Scout.  (See  Battle  of  Lake 
George.) 

[36] 


THE  SUMMER  PARADISE  IN  HISTORY 


/77«;  Road .  <?  French,  £  Indians, 
3Hendrifk-  on-  Sbrseback',  4- .Provincials, 

S  Mo/iatfk-s.          ~i~         -     &    £ 


BLOODY  MORNING  SCOUT 
(From  an  Old  Print) 


137] 


THE  SUMMER  PARADISE  IN  HISTORY 

BOULDER  TO  THE  HEROES  OF  THE  FOUR  NATIONS  is 
a  boulder  in  Academy  Park  at  Ticonderoga  Village,  erected  by  the 
late  Joseph  Cook  as  a  memorial  to  the  Indian,  French,  English  and 
American  heroes  who  fought  at  Ticonderoga.  The  bones  which 
were  found  interred  with  the  Lord  Howe  Stone  are  buried  under 
this  boulder.  (See  Howe,  Lord  George  Augustus.) 

BRANT,  JOSEPH  (Thayendanegea),  the  Mohawk  chief,  a 
prot6g6,  when  young,  of  Sir  William  Johnson,  was  present  with  him 
at  the  Battle  of  Lake  George  (q.  v.)  when  only  13  years  old.  Dur- 
ing the  Revolution  he  was  active  against  the  Americans.  After  the 
war,  however,  his  influence  with  the  Indians  was  for  peace,  and  in 
later  years  he  raised  funds  to  build  the  First  Episcopal  Church  in 
Upper  Canada,  and  translated  into  Mohawk  the  Book  of  Common 
Prayer.  He  died  at  the  age  of  65,  and  in  1886,  at  Brantford,  Ontario, 
a  monument  was  erected  to  his  memory.  John  Fiske  says:  "He  was, 
perhaps,  the  greatest  Indian  of  whom  we  have  any  knowledge." 

BROWN,  JOHN,  is  buried  at  North  Elba,  in  the  Adirondacks, 
a  short  distance  from  Lake  Placid,  on  a  plot  of  ground  which  the 
old  abolitionist  chose  for  the  northern  terminus  of  his  "underground 
railroad"  and  as  a  colony  for  runaway  slaves.  It  was  his  home  for 
ten  years.  Some  ten  years  after  his  burial  there,  the  farm,  which 
was  about  to  be  sold  under  foreclosure,  was  redeemed,  largely 
through  the  efforts  of  Kate  Field,  and,  in  1896,  transferred  to  the 
State  of  New  York,  the  gift  being  formally  accepted.  A  monument 
was  unveiled  there  July  21,  1896.  The  grave  is  near  a  great  boulder 
which  Kate  Field  said  "looked  as  if  it  -were  cast  for  the  purpose 
from  God  Almighty's  foundry."  On  it,  in  1866,  was  carved  the 
inscription, 

JOHN  BROWN 
1859 

At  the  head  of  the  grave  is  an  old-fashioned  stone  originally 
erected  to  the  memory  of  Brown's  grandfather,  Capt.  John  Brown,  a 
Revolutionary  soldier.  Under  the  first  inscription  are  the  lines :  "John 
Brown,  born  May  9, 1800,  was  executed  at  Charleston,  Va.,  Decem- 
ber 2,  1859."  It  bears  also  the  names  of  his  three  sons,  Frederick, 
killed  at  Ossawatomie,  and  Oliver  and  Watson,  killed  at  Harper's 
Ferry.  The  bodies  of  Frederick  and  Oliver  have  never  been  recov- 
ered; but  the  bones  of  Watson,  after  being  used  for  twenty  years 
as  an  anatomical  specimen  in  a  Southern  hospital,  were  bought  by  a 
physician  and  restored  to  the  family. 

[38] 


THE  SUMMER  PARADISE  IN  HISTORY 

The  tune  to  which  "John  Brown's  Body,"  the  northern  war  song 
of  the  great  fratricidal  conflict,  was  sung  was  originally  an  old 
Methodist  revival  air,  and  the  words  appear  to  have  been  formu- 
lated one  evening  in  May,  1861,  by  a  company  of  recruits  quartered 
at  Fort  Warren,  Boston  harbor.  It  was  more  by  chance  than  other- 
wise, and  referred  in  the  first  instance  to  a  recruit  by  the  name  of 
Brown,  who  was  made  sport  of.  The  boys  began  singing  and  march- 
ing to  the  refrain,  and  that  night  the  bandmaster,  P.  S.  Gihnore, 
arranged  the  music  for  his  full  band,  and  the  next  day  it  was  played 
at  dress  parade.  The  following  day,  May  25,  1861,  it  was  heard  in 
public,  as  the  soldiers,  headed  by  the  band,  marched  through  the 
streets  of  Boston.  Later,  the  same  year,  Julia  Ward  Howe  wrote  her 
"Battle  Hymn  of  the  Republic,"  which  was  sung  to  the  same  tune, 
but  interfered  not  a  whit  with  the  popularity  of  the  old  refrain, 

"John  Brown1  s  body  lies  a-mouldering  in  the  grave, 
Bui  his  soul  is  marching  on." 

BURGOYNE'S  CAMPAIGN,  as  stated  elsewhere  (see  Hud- 
son River),  was  undertaken  in  accordance  with  a  plan  to  cut  the 
colonies  in  two  by  the  advance  of  General  Clinton  up  the  Hudson  and 
of  General  Burgoyne  from  Montreal  southward  to  Albany.  The  first 
event  of  importance  was  the  re-taking  of  Fort  Ticonderoga,  which 
was  accomplished  on  July  6, 1777,  when  General  St.  Clair  withdrew 
with  his  garrison.  Crown  Point  had  already  been  evacuated  with- 
out resistance.  Burgoyne  thereupon  continued  his  advance  toward 
Fort  Edward,  going  by  way  of  Wood  Creek  and  the  Great  Carrying 
Place,  rather  than  the  easier  route  over  Lake  George.  His  progress 
was  continually  obstructed  by  the  Colonial  troops,  who  felled  trees 
in  his  way  and  harassed  his  forces  in  every  possible  manner.  It  ia 
said  in  Ramsey's  "American  Revolution"  that  it  was  by  Skene's 
advice  (see  Whitehall)  that  Burgoyne  made  the  fatal  mistake  of 
taking  this  course,  and  that  his  advice  was  given  solely  to  enable 
the  wily  Skene  to  have  a  good  road  cut  out  for  him  to  the  lower 
settlements. 

At  the  battles  of  Saratoga  (q.  v.),  known  also  as  the  battles  of 
Bemis  Heights  and  Freeman's  Farm,  he  met  defeat,  until  his  sur- 
render was  finally  forced  on  October  17th.  It  is  related  that  after 
the  surrender  at  Saratoga  Burgoyne  was  entertained  with  so  much 
grace  and  hospitality  at  the  Schuyler  mansion  in  Albany  that  he 
was  affected  to  tears,  exclaiming,  "Indeed,  this  is  doing  too  much 
for  the  man  who  has  ravaged  their  lands  and  destroyed  their  dwell- 

139) 


THE  SUMMER  PARADISE  IN  HISTORY 

ings,"  having  in  mind,  no  doubt,  the  rather  disquieting  reflection 
that  only  a  few  weeks  before,  by  his  command,  the  mills  and  mansion 
of  General  Schuyler,  at  Saratoga,  had  been  burned  to  the  ground. 

Creasy,  the  English  historian,  said  of  this  campaign:  "With- 
out question  the  plan  was  ably  formed,  and  had  the  success  of  the 
execution  been  equal  to  the  ingenuity  of  the  design,  the  reconquest 
or  submission  of  the  thirteen  United  States  must  in  all  human  proba- 
bility have  followed,  and  the  independence  which  they  proclaimed 
in  1776  would  have  been  extinguished  before  it  existed  a  second 
year." 

BURR,  AARON,  was  at  different  times  a  resident  of  Albany. 
He  began  the  practice  of  law  there  in  1782,  soon  after  his  marriage 
to  the  Widow  Prevost,  and  there  his  beloved  daughter  Theodosia 
was  married.  Still  later  in  life  (1824),  after  his  duel  with  Hamilton, 
the  failure  of  his  scheme  to  become  Emperor  of  Mexico,  his  trial 
for  treason,  and  his  return  from  exile,  he  resided  in  the  house  now 
occupied  by  the  Fort  Orange  Club,  on  Washington  Avenue. 


/CAMPBELL,  MAJOR  DUNCAN.  In  the  Union  Cemetery 
\_J  between  Fort  Edward  and  Hudson  Falls  is  a  gravestone  with 
the  following  inscription: 

"Here  lyes  the  Body  of  Duncan  Campbell  of  Inverawe,  Esq., 
Major  of  the  Highland  Regiment,  aged  55  years,  who  died  the  17th 
of  July,  1758,  of  the  wounds  he  received  in  the  attack  of  the  Retrench- 
ment of  Ticonderoga,  or  Carillon,  on  the  8th  of  July,  1758." 

In  "  Legendary  Tales  of  the  Highlands,"  by  Sir  Thomas  Dick  Lau- 
der,  it  is  related  at  considerable  length  that  this  same  Duncan  Camp- 
bell had  once  given  shelter,  at  Inverawe,  to  a  stranger  who  came  to 
him  besmeared  with  blood,  said  that  he  had  killed  a  man,  and  that 
pursuers  were  on  his  track,  and  begged  for  shelter.  This  Campbell, 
through  pity,  promised,  and  swore  it  on  his  dirk.  Later  it  appeared 
that  the  murdered  man  was  Campbell's  own  cousin,  but  he  kept 
his  oath;  whereupon  that  night  he  saw  the  ghost  of  the  murdered 
cousin,  who  pronounced  in  sepulchral  tones  the  words:  "Inverawe, 
Inverawe,  blood  has  been  shed.  Shield  not  the  murderer!"  Still 
he  would  not  give  up  the  man  whom  he  had  sworn  on  his  dirk  to 
harbor,  but  took  him  to  a  cave,  from  whence  he  subsequently 
escaped.  Then  the  ghost  appeared  again  and  exclaimed:  "Farewell, 
Inverawe,  till  we  meet  at  Ticonderoga!"  a  name  and  place  of  which 
Inverawe  had  never  before  heard.  Subsequently  he  came  to  America 

[40] 


THE  SUMMER  PARADISE  IN  HISTORY 

as  major  of  the  42d  regiment  (see  Black  Watch  Memorial),  and 
in  due  time  learned  to  his  consternation  that  the  army  was  to  attack 
a  fort  so  called.  His  spirits  fell  at  once.  Nothing  could  convince 
him  that  his  earthly  end  was  not  at  hand.  His  brother  officers 
knew  how  he  felt,  and  on  the  way  down  the  lake  (see  Abercrombie's 
Expedition)  conspired  together  to  call  the  point  of  their  attack 
Fort  George.  But  on  the  morning  of  the  battle  he  said  to  them: 
"You  have  deceived  me.  It  is  not  Fort  George;  it  is  Ticonderoga. 
He  came  to  my  tent  last  night  and  I  shall  die  today."  He  was 
mortally  wounded  in  the  attack  and  died  ten  days  later. 

Robert  Louis  Stevenson  (q.  v.)  has  given  permanent  literary 
embodiment  to  this  old  legend  in  his  ballad  of  Ticonderoga,  naming 
the  chief  actor  Cameron,  however,  rather  than  Campbell,  a  poetic 
license  which  he  justified  in  a  note  to  the  ballad:  "Two  clans,  the 
Camerons  and  the  Campbells,  lay  claim  to  this  bracing  story;  and 
they  do  well:  the  man  who  preferred  his  plighted  troth  to  the 
commands  and  menaces  of  the  dead  is  an  ancestor  worth  disputing. 
But  the  Campbells  must  rest  content;  they  have  the  broad  lands 
and  the  broad  page  of  history;  this  appanage  must  be  denied  them; 
for  between  the  name  of  Cameron  and  that  of  Campbell,  the  muse 
will  never  hesitate." 

The  Cameron  in  the  ballad  went  seeking  the  place  of  the  name 
throughout  all  Scotland,  and  then  having  joined  the  celebrated 
Black  Watch  regiment,  continued  his  inquiries  wherever  that  fighting 
organization  went.  It  was  not  until  they  had  encamped  before 
Carillon,  on  Abercrombie's  Expedition,  that  its  unmistakable 
accents  fell  upon  his  ears. 

And  it  fell  on  the  morrow's  morning, 

In  the  fiercest  of  the  fight, 
That  the  Cameron  bit  the  dust 

As  he  foretold  at  night; 
And  far  from  the  hills  of  heather, 

Far  from  the  isles  of  the  sea, 
He  sleeps  in  the  place  of  the  name 

As  it  was  doomed  to  be. 

CARIGNAN-SALIERES  was  a  veteran  French  regiment,  brought 
to  America  by  the  Marquis  de  Tracy,  Viceroy  of  Canada,  in  1664. 
It  was  largely  instrumental  in  first  opening  Lake  Champlain  to  the 
French  and  in  subduing  the  Iroquois,  for  which  purposes  it  built 
and  garrisoned  a  string  of  forts.  Many  of  the  French  names  from 
Montreal  south  through  Lake  Champlain  attest  the  exploits  of  its 

[41] 


THE  SUMMER  PARADISE  IN  HISTORY 

adventure-loving  officers.    (See  Fort  Chambly,  Chazy  River,  Sorel, 
Mothe,  Fort  Richelieu,  Fort  St.  Anne,  Fort  St.  Theresa.) 

CARILLON,  the  French  name  for  Ticonderoga,  was  so  given 
because  the  rapids  near  by  sounded  like  the  musical  peal  of  bells. 
(See  Fort  Ticonderoga.) 

CARLETON'S  PRIZE.  On  the  morning  of  October  13,  1776, 
after  the  fleet  commanded  by  Benedict  Arnold  had  escaped  from  the 
British  and  was  proceeding  toward  Crown  Point,  the  English,  under 
Carleton,  mistook  a  rock  near  Providence  Island  for  one  of  the 
American  vessels  and  fired  upon  it.  It  has  since  been  known  as 
Carleton's  Prize.  (See  Battle  of  Valcour.) 

CARLETON'S  RAID.  Carleton's  raid  was  undertaken  in  the 
autumn  of  1780  in  accordance  with  the  policy  of  the  British  to 
harass  and  devastate  the  colonies  at  every  possible  point.  Major 
Carleton,  with  a  considerable  force  of  regulars,  Tories  and  Indians, 
set  out  from  Canada  and  proceeded  up  Lake  Champlain  to  Crown 
Point  and  Ticonderoga.  He  captured  and  burned  Fort  Anne,  and 
sent  out  marauding  parties  in  the  direction  of  Fort  Edward.  He 
marched  across  country  to  the  head  of  Lake  George,  took  possession 
of  Fort  George,  and  captured  and  burned  Fort  Amherst,  which  stood 
near  Half- Way  Brook  (q.  v.)  just  outside  the  city  of  Glens  Falls.  A 
portion  of  Carleton's  forces  had  been  dispatched  to  advance  through 
the  wilderness  and  attack  Schenectady,  but  they  contented  them- 
selves with  devastating  the  settlement  at  Ballston. 

CHAMPLAIN,  SAMUEL  DE,  was  born  at  Brouage,  France,  in 
1567,  and  died  at  Montreal,  December  25,  1635.  He  came  of  a  long 
line  of  fishermen  and  mariners  and  had  been  educated  as  a  navigator. 
He  had  served  in  the  army  of  France,  and  was  accordingly  well 
fitted  by  his  training  and  experience  for  the  life  of  scientific  explora- 
tion and  adventure  which  he  led  in  the  new  world.  Prior  to  his 
discovery  of  the  lake  which  bears  his  name,  he  had  made  several 
voyages  to  Canada,  the  first  in  1603,  when  he  was  commissioned 
lieutenant-general  of  the  new  province  by  Henry  IV.  In  1604 
he  came  again  and  landed  in  Nova  Scotia,  planning  a  settle- 
ment and  exploring  the  neighboring  territory.  In  1607  he  returned 
to  France,  to  come  back  again  in  1608  for  the  purpose  of  founding 
a  permanent  settlement  on  the  St.  Lawrence.  He  had  thus  had 
ample  opportunity  to  learn  of  the  great  lake  to  the  south  before  he 
embarked  with  his  savage  allies,  the  Montagnais,  the  Hurons  and 

[42] 


THE  SUMMER  PARADISE  IN  HISTORY 

Algonquins,  in  1609,  for  its  exploration.  It  was  on  the  morning  of 
July  4,  1609,  that  he  emerged  from  the  Richelieu  River  into  the 
larger  waters  of  the  lake.  He  was  at  once  entranced  with  the 
country,  which  he  said  consisted  of  "many  pretty  hills,  low,  and 
containing  very  fine  wooda  and  meadows."  There  were  also  "many 
rivers  flowing  into  the  lake  bordered  by  many  fine  trees  of  the  same 
kind  as  those  we  have  in  France,  with  many  vines,  finer  than  any 
I  have  seen  in  any  other  place." 

Towards  the  lower  end  of  the  lake  the  party  encountered  a  band 
of  Iroquois,  to  fight  whom  was,  in  the  minds  of  the  Indians,  the 
chief  purpose  of  the  expedition.  Here,  on  the  morning  of  July  30, 
1609,  the  Iroquois  had  their  first  bitter  experience  with  the  white 
man's  gun.  The  site  of  the  battle  was  on  the  lake  shore,  but  a 
short  distance  north  of  Fort  Ticonderoga.  The  Iroquois  became 
panic-stricken,  and  were  hopelessly  beaten;  but  the  memory  of  that 
defeat  filled  them  through  the  generations  that  followed  with  the 
most  undying  hatred  of  the  French,  and  resulted  in  atrocities  which 
kept  the  settlements  on  the  St.  Lawrence  in  constant  terror. 

Champlain  returned  to  France,  but  made  another  trip  to  the 
St.  Lawrence  in  1610.  In  1612  he  was  again  sent  to  Canada  as 
Lieutenant-Governor,  and  from  that  time  until  his  death,  with  short 
intermissions,  he  was  actively  engaged  in  nurturing  the  infant 
province  through  the  precarious  stages  of  its  early  growth.  Hia 
work  is  well  commemorated  on  the  lake  by  the  beautiful  Champlain 
Memorial  at  Crown  Point  and  the  Champlain  Monument  which 
looks  out  over  the  bay  at  Plattsburg.  A  small  but  excellent  monu- 
ment also  stands  in  the  village  of  Champlain,  a  short  distance  west 
of  Rouse's  Point,  while  a  larger  and  imposing  statue  has  been 
erected  in  Quebec. 

Set  into  the  front  of  the  memorial  at  Crown  Point  is  a  bronze 
tablet  with  the  following  inscription: 

1609  To  the  Memory  of  1909 

SAMUEL  CHAMPLAIN 

INTREPID  NAVIGATOR 

SCHOLARLY  EXPLORER 

CHRISTIAN  PIONEER 

Erected  by  the  State  of  New  York  and  the  State  of  Vermont 
In  commemoration  of  his  discovery  of  the  Lake  which  bears  his  name 

Surmounting  this  tablet  is  a  beautiful  tablet  bust  of  La 
France,  by  Rodin,  which  was  presented  to  the  United  States 

[43] 


THE  SUMMER  PARADISE  IN  HISTORY 

by  the  people  of  France,  and  unveiled  in  May,  1912.  The 
delegation  present  at  the  ceremony  of  the  unveiling  was  in  all 
probability  the  most  distinguished  assemblage  of  Frenchmen  ever 
brought  together  on'this  continent,  consisting  of  Ambassador  J.  J. 
Jusserand,  M.  Gabriel  Hanotaux,  Marquis  de  Chambrun,  MM.  Ren6 
Bazin,  Etienne  Lamy,  and  Fernand  Cormon,  Mile.  Cormon,  Count 
and  Countess  de  Rochambeau,  M.  Louis  Barthou,  Baron  d'Estour- 
nelles  de  Constant,  General  Lebon,  MM.  Vidal  de  Lablache,  Due 
de  Choiseul,  MM.  Leon  Barthou,  J.  Dal  Piaz  Girard,  Mile.  Girard, 
MM.  Gabriel  Louis  Jaray,  E.  Lanel,  Louis  Bleriot  and  Madame 
Bleriot,  and  M.  Gaston  Deschamps. 

CHAMPLAIN  TERCENTENARY  CELEBRATION,  in  com- 
memoration of  the  three  hundredth  anniversary  of  the  discovery 
of  the  lake,  was  held  at  various  points  along  the  lake  from  July  4 
to  10,  1909.  It  included  a  general  observance  of  Champlain 
Sunday,  July  4th,  in  most  of  the  churches  bordering  the  lake  and 
elsewhere  in  New  York  and  Vermont;  a  sham  battle,  pageants  and 
exercises  at  the  Crown  Point  forts  on  July  5th;  a  sham  battle, 
pageants  and  exercises  at  Ticonderoga  on  the  6th;  and  parades, 
exercises  and  pageants  on  successive  days  thereafter  at  Plattsburg, 
Burlington,  Isle  La  Motte,  and  Rouse's  Point. 

The  Celebration  was  under  the  joint  direction  of  the  Lake  Cham- 
plain  Tercentenary  Commissions  of  the  States  of  New  York  and 
Vermont.  The  Government  of  the  United  States  rendered  valuable 
co-operation,  and  official  representation  by  France,  Great  Britain 
and  Canada  contributed  in  large  measure  to  the  success  of  the  cere- 
monies. The  two  beautiful  and  permanent  memorials  to  Champlain 
at  Plattsburg  and  Crown  Point  were  erected  by  the  New  York  State 
Commission,  the  Vermont  Commission  co-operating  in  the  one  at 
Crown  Point.  The  memorial  at  Crown  Point  is  specially  noteworthy 
because  of  the  bust  of  La  France,  by  Rodin,  which  was  presented 
by  the  people  of  France.  (See  Champlain,  Samuel  de.)  Through 
the  attendance  at  the  ceremonies  of  President  Taft  and  the  dis- 
tinguished officials  of  all  of  the  countries  whose  troops  participated 
hi  the  campaigns  in  the  Champlain  Valley,  the  Celebration  thus 
acquired  a  far  deeper  significance  than  that  of  mere  national  self- 
felicitation. 

The  Dominion  of  Canada  sent  over  the  Governor-General's  Foot- 
Guards  and  the  Fifth  Royal  Canadian  Highlanders,  whose  brilliant 
uniforms  and  faultless  maneuvers  added  color  and  impressiveness 
to  the  Celebration. 

[44] 


THE  SUMMER  PARADISE  IN  HISTORY 

His  Excellency,  J.  J.  Jusserand,  French  Ambassador  to  the 
United  States,  was  the  official  representative  of  France,  while  the 
Right  Honorable  James  Bryce,  British  Ambassador,  appeared  for 
Great  Britain.  The  Canadian  officials  present  were  the  Honorable 
Rodolphe  Lemieux,  Postmaster-General  of  the  Dominion  of  Canada; 
Sir  Lomer  Gouin,  Premier  of  the  Province  of  Quebec ;  and  Sir  Adolphe 
Pelletier,  Lieutenant-Governor  of  the  Province  of  Quebec.  The 
attendance  of  these  officials,  as  well  as  of  others  from  other 
countries,  brought  wide  comment  in  the  press  of  the  entire 
world  and  contributed  largely  to  the  general  recognition  of  the 
ceremonies,  both  here  and  abroad,  as  one  of  the  most  important 
commemorative  celebrations  of  the  century. 

CHAMPLAIN  TRANSPORTATION  COMPANY,  the  oldest 
steamboat  company  in  the  world  in  operation  today,  has  been  a 
continuous  carrier  on  the  picturesque  highway  of  the  lake  for 
nearly  a  hundred  years,  although  it  was  not  always  operated  under 
the  same  name.  The  first  steamer  on  the  lake  was  the  "Vermont," 
built  in  1808,  the  year  following  Fulton's  memorable  sail  up  the 
Hudson.  She  made  her  first  regular  trip  in  June,  1809,  and  was 
thus  the  second  steamboat  in  the  world  to  be  put  into  successful 
operation.  She  was  twenty  feet  longer  than  the  "Clermont,"  and  was 
of  a  hundred  and  sixty-seven  tons  burden,  with  an  engine  of  twenty 
horse-power.  In  pleasant  weather  her  speed  was  five  miles  an 
hour,  but  at  other  times  she  was  readily  passed  by  the  sloops  of  the 
lake,  which  still  carried  the  bulk  of  the  traffic.  She  was,  neverthe- 
less, a  decided  success,  in  spite  of  much  ridicule  from  the  sailing 
craft.  She  was  scheduled  to  leave  St.  Johns  at  eight  o'clock  every 
Saturday  morning,  to  pass  Cumberland  Head  about  five  in  the 
afternoon,  and  to  arrive  at  Burlington  the  following  morning, 
which  she  left  at  nine  A.  M.,  arriving  at  Whitehall  at  twelve  o'clock 
Sunday  night.  Her  scheduled  time  from  St.  Johns  to  Whitehall 
was  thus  thirty-nine  hours,  though  she  seldom  kept  to  it  on  account 
of  accidents  to  her  machinery  and  adverse  winds.  Passengers  were 
warned  that  the  time  might  vary  a  few  hours  according  to  the 
weather  and  were  advised  to  be  on  hand  at  least  two  hours  ahead 
of  the  schedule.  The  "Vermont"  had  two  cabins,  one  for  ladies,  which 
accommodated  twelve,  and  one  for  gentlemen,  with  room  for  twice 
as  many.  Servants  were  required  to  sleep  on  the  floor,  and  it  was  a 
rule  of  the  boat  that  passengers  were  entitled  to  entrance  to  the 
washroom  in  the  order  in  which  they  paid  their  fare,  no  one  to 
remain  longer  than  ten  minutes.  In  October,  1815,  the  "Vermont" 

[45] 


THE  SUMMER  PARADISE  IN  HISTORY 

was  wrecked  near  Isle  aux  Noix,  her  connecting  rod  becoming 
detached  and  knocking  a  hole  in  her  bottom.  Two  years  before  this, 
however,  she  had  satisfied  several  enterprising  men  of  the  feasibility 
of  steam  navigation  on  Lake  Champlain,  and  they  had  obtained  a 
charter  from  the  New  York  Legislature  in  1813  for  the  Lake  Cham- 
plain  Steamboat  Company.  They  began  work  on  a  steamer  in  the 
winter  of  1813-14,  at  Vergennes,  on  Otter  Creek,  but  before  it  could 
be  completed  it  was  taken  over  by  Commodore  MacDonough,  to 
form  one  of  the  fleet  of  warships  which  contested  the  right  of  the 
lake  with  the  British  at  the  battle  of  Lake  Champlain  (q.  v.).  He 
called  it  the  "Ticonderoga,"  a  name  which  the  latest  steamer  of  the 
company  has  now  worthily  perpetuated.  In  1814  the  keel  of  another 
steamboat,  the  "Phoenix,"  was  laid,  and  in  1815  she  began  regular 
trips  between  Whitehall  and  St.  Johns.  In  1833  the  Lake  Cham- 
plain  Steamboat  Company  was  consolidated  with  the  Champlain 
Transportation  Company,  a  corporation  chartered  by  the  State  of 
Vermont.  Since  that  date  a  long  list  of  steamers  bearing  names 
well  known  in  the  annals  of  American  inland  shipping  have  plied 
the  waters  of  the  lake  without  interruption. 

CHAZY  RIVER  was  so  named  from  the  fact  that  a  captain  of  the 
Carignan-Salieres  (q.  v.)  regiment,  de  Chasy,  and  several  com- 
panions were  killed  near  its  mouth  by  a  party  of  Iroquois  in  1666. 

CHERRY  VALLEY  MASSACRE  occurred  in  1778  at  the  little 
village  of  the  same  name,  when  sixteen  hundred  Indians  and  two 
hundred  Tories  under  Maj.  Walter  Butler  of  the  British  army  fell 
upon  it  unawares.  Sixteen  of  the  garrison  and  thirty  inhabitants, 
including  women  and  children,  were  killed,  and  seventy-one  persons 
were  taken  captive  and  put  to  the  cruelest  torture.  One  of  those 
was  Col.  Ichabod  Alden,  the  great-grandson  of  John  and  Priscilla 
Alden  of  the  Mayflower  company.  On  the  site  of  the  old  fort 
stands  a  monument  to  the  victims,  and  a  stone  marks  the  burial 
place  of  Colonel  Alden. 

CHIMNEY  POINT.  While  the  French  were  in  possession  of 
Crown  Point  they  built  settlements  outside  the  fort,  one  of  these 
being  located  almost  immediately  across  the  lake.  After  the  capture 
of  the  fort  by  the  English,  in  1759,  it  was  destroyed,  but  for  years 
its  blackened  chimneys  remained  to  give  the  spot  its  name. 

COBLESKILL.  This  settlement  of  nineteen  families  was  attacked 
by  Brant  and  three  or  four  hundred  Indians,  May  30,  1778.  Nine 

[46] 


THE  SUMMER  PARADISE  IN  HISTORY 

houses  were  burned,  and  a  party  of  Continental  troops  who  came 
to  the  rescue  were  defeated,  with  a  loss  of  sixteen.  A  number  of  the 
inhabitants  were  also  killed.  The  surviving  settlers  escaped  to 
Schoharie,  but  the  Indians  took  away  all  the  cattle  and  provisions. 

COMMEMORATIVE  BOULDER  ON  ISLE  LA  MOTTE  was 
dedicated  in  1909,  during  the  Champlain  Tercentenary  Celebration. 
It  bears  a  bronze  tablet  with  the  following  inscription: 
IN  HONOR  OF  THE  FIRST  WHITE  MEN  WHO  FORTIFIED 

THIS  ISLAND  IN  1666 

IN  MEMORY  OF  THE  SACRIFICES  AND  VALOR  OF 
COLONEL  SETH  WARNER  AND  CAPTAIN 

REMEMBER  BAKER 

EMINENT  GREEN  MOUNTAIN  BOYS  AND  PATRIOTS 

AND  TO  COMMEMORATE  THE  CAMPAIGN  OF  GENERAL 

MONTGOMERY  WHO  ENCAMPED  NEAR  THIS 

SPOT  WITH  1200  MEN  IN  1775 

THIS  TABLET  IS  ERECTED  BY  THE 

PATRIOTIC  SOCIETIES  OF  VERMONT  WOMEN 

1909 

CONGRESS  OF  1754.  While  to  Philadelphia  remains  the  honor 
of  being  the  seat  of  the  first  Continental  Congress,  it  was  in  Albany, 
in  1754,  to  quote  the  words  of  President  Garfield,  "that  the  first 
germ  of  the  American  union  was  planted  by  Benjamin  Franklin." 
The  colonies  of  New  York,  Massachusetts,  New  Hampshire,  Con- 
necticut, Rhode  Island,  Pennsylvania  and  Maryland  were  repre- 
sented by  twenty-five  commissioners,  who,  on  June  19, 1754,  met  in 
Albany  to  consider  some  plan  of  union.  For  twelve  days  they  de- 
bated the  one  presented  by  Benjamin  Franklin,  which  was  finally 
adopted  without  material  change,  on  July  llth,  subject  to  the  ap- 
proval of  the  king  and  of  the  several  Colonial  assemblies.  But  it 
was  everywhere  rejected — by  the  assemblies  because  it  gave  too 
much  power  to  the  general  government:  by  the  king  because  it  did 
not  give  enough. 

COHOES  FALLS,  AS  SEEN  BY  TOM  MOORE.  Tom  Moore 
(1779-1852),  the  Irish  poet,  author  of  Lalla  Rookh,  visited  this 
country  in  1804.  He  had  been  appointed  to  a  government  position 
in  Bermuda;  but  disliking  the  job,  entrusted  it  to  a  deputy  and 
traveled  in  the  United  States.  Among  the  literary  products  of  the 
tour  were  the  lines  written  at  the  Cohoes,  or  Falls  of  the  Mohawk 
River,  which  may  be  found  in  his  works. 

[47] 


THE  SUMMER  PARADISE  IN  HISTORY 

Mr.  Moore  thought  the  country  immediately  about  the  falls  of  a 
dreary  and  savage  character,  much  more  in  harmony  with  the  wild- 
ness  of  the  scene  than  the  cultivated  lands  in  the  neighborhood  of 
Niagara.  "The  fine  rainbow  which  is  continually  forming  and 
dissolving  as  the  spray  rises  into  the  light  of  the  sun  is,"  he  said, 
"perhaps,  the  most  interesting  beauty  which  these  wonderful 
cataracts  exhibit." 

COOPER,  JAMES  FENIMORE,  one  of  the  best  known  of 
American  novelists,  was  born  at  Burlington,  N.  J.,  September  15, 
1789,  and  died  at  Cooperstown,  N.  Y.,  September  14,  1851.  He  was 
the  author  of  "The  Leather-Stocking  Tales,"  and  nearly  seventy 
other  stories  and  publications.  The  "Last  of  the  Mohicans,"one  of  the 
most  popular  of  all  of  his  novels,  has  many  of  its  scenes  in  the  vicinity 
of  Glens  Falls  and  Lake  George  during  the  French  and  Indian  War. 
A  cave  in  the  Hudson  near  Glens  Falls  is  easily  identified  as  the  place 
where  the  heroes  of  the  novel  were  besieged  by  the  Indians.  Part 
of  the  action  extends  back  into  the  remoter  sections  of  the  Adiron- 
dack Mountains.  The  story  also  contains  a  vivid  picture  of  the 
Massacre  of  Fort  William  Henry  (q.  v.).  Cooper's  most  important 
works  began  with  "The  Spy,"  a  story  of  the  Revolution,  which  proved 
the  greatest  "seller  "  the  country  had  ever  known.  This  was  followed 
two  years  later  by  "The  Pioneers,  or  the  Sources  of  the  Susque- 
hanna,"  which  was  the  first  to  be  published  of  what  are  known  as 
"The  Leather-Stocking  Tales."  In  it  the  novelist  describes  with 
minuteness  the  scenery  which  surrounded  his  father's  residence  on 
Otsego  Lake,  and  introduced  the  famous  Leather-Stocking,  or 
Natty  Bumppo,  "the  chevalier  of  the  woods."  In  1826,  the  "Last 
of  the  Mohicans,"  a  narrative  of  1757,  was  published,  Leather-Stock- 
ing appearing  in  an  early  age  of  his  career,  and  with  him  the  Indian 
heroes  that  made  Cooper  famous.  In  "The  Prairie"  (1827)  Leather- 
Stocking  becomes  a  trapper  in  the  West,  where  he  closes  his  career. 
In  "The  Pathfinder"  (1840)  and '  'The  Deerslayer"  (1841)  many  of  the 
old  personages  reappear.  The  scene  of  "The  Deerslayer"  is  laid  on 
Otsego  Lake,  many  incidents  taking  place  in  the  "ark"  of  Tom 
Hutter,  the  solitary  white  man  who  constructs  this  floating  fortress 
against  the  Indians. 

In  spite  of  Mark  Twain's  definition  of  the  Cooper  Indiana  as 
"an  extinct  tribe  that  never  existed,"  these  novels  remain  one  of 
the  most  vitally  interesting  literary  products  born  of  the  storm  and 
stress  of  our  Colonial  history. 

[48] 


THE  STATUE  OF  AN  INDIAN  HUNTER  MARKS  THE  SITE  OF  COOPER'S 
RESIDENCE  AT  OTSEGO  LAKE 


A  MORTAR  AND  TABLET  COMMEMORATE   THE  DAMMING  OF  OTSEGO  LAKE  BY 
GENERAL  CLINTON  OF  SULLIVAN'S  EXPEDITION  IN  1778 


THE  SUMMER  PARADISE  IN  HISTORY 

COOPERSTOWN,  which  stands  at  the  foot  of  Otsego  Lake  on 
the  site  of  an  old  Indian  village,  was  founded  by  William  Cooper, 
father  of  James  Fenimore  Cooper,  the  novelist,  who  was  brought 
here  in  1790  when  an  infant.  Here  he  lived  the  greater  part  of  hit 
life,  and  here  he  is  buried.  His  father's  log-house  in  a  few  years  gave 
way  to  Otsego  Hall,  for  many  years  the  most  stately  and  spacious 
private  residence  in  central  New  York.  It  was  burned  a  few  years 
after  the  novelist's  death,  a  stone  Indian  hunter  now  marking  the 
site.  A  statue  of  Leather-Stocking,  with  rifle  and  dog,  surmounts 
the  Cooper  Memorial  in  the  cemetery.  Many  natural  features  in  the 
vicinity  are  named  after  characters  in  the  Cooper  novels. 

COUNCIL  ROCK  is  a  large  boulder  in  Otsego  Lake,  referred  to 
by  Cooper,  and  generally  believed  to  have  been  a  favorite  haunt  of 
the  Indians.  In  time  of  extreme  low  water  the  rock  now  appears 
as  an  oval  cone  about  nine  feet  in  diameter  one  way  and  six  feet  the 
other.  From  the  bed  on  which  it  rests  it  rises  about  four  and  a  half 
feet.  When  the  water  is  extremely  high  the  rock  is  covered. 

CUMBERLAND  HEAD  is  one  of  the  best-known  landmarks  of 
Lake  Champlain.  It  closes  Plattsburg  Bay  from  the  main  lake  on 
the  northeast  and  is  clearly  visible  from  the  trains  entering  Platts- 
burg. It  was  on  a  line  between  this  long  peninsula  and  Crab  Island 
to  the  south  that  MacDonough's  fleet  was  anchored  during  the 
Battle  of  Lake  Champlain  (q.  v.). 

• 

DARK  AND  BLOODY  GROUND.  The  Saratoga  county  of  the 
present  time  was  like  Kentucky,  "the  dark  and  bloody  ground," 
the  hunting  and  fishing  country  of  the  Five  Nations  on  the  south, 
and  their  enemies,  the  Algonquins,  on  the  north.  Through  here 
their  war  trails  led,  and  here  they  often  planned  then:  ambuscades. 
Under  more  civilized  strife  it  was  scarcely  less  bloody,  until  the 
culmination  of  all  its  conflicts  in  the  Battle  of  Saratoga  (q.  v.). 
DELAWARE  AND  HUDSON  COMPANY.  The  history  of  the 
Delaware  and  Hudson  Company  is  inseparably  bound  up  with  the 
finding  of  coal  in  Pennsylvania  and  the  tremendous  industrial  de- 
velopment of  the  country  which  followed  as  one  of  the  immediate 
results  of  its  distribution.  The  coal  of  Virginia,  discovered  in  1701, 
had  been  mined  since  1750.  It  is  said  in  "The  World's  Progress"  that 
the  anthracite  coal  of  Pennsylvania  was  first  used  by  a  blacksmith 
in  the  Wyoming  Valley  in  1775.  But  in  1792,  when  Charles  Cist, 
a  Philadelphia  printer  and  publisher,  brought  to  that  city  several 

149] 


THE  SUMMER  PARADISE  IN  HISTORY 

wagon-loads  of  anthracite  which,  in  order  to  introduce  what  he 
called  a  new  fuel,  he  offered  to  give  away,  he  was  very  nearly  mobbed 
for  trying  to  impose  on  the  people  with  a  lot  of  "black  stones." 
In  1806  some  mining  was  done  at  Mauch  Chunk,  and  in  1812  William 
Wurts,  a  Philadelphia  merchant*  and  his  brother  Maurice,  after 
months  of  prospecting  up  and  down  the  valley  of  the  Lackawaxen 


THE  STOURBRIDGE  LION 

and  Lackawanna,  managed  to  raft  a  few  tons  to  that  city,  where  it 
waa  still  thought  to  be  of  little  or  no  value.  But  the  brothers  went 
on  buying  coal  lands  at  from  fifty  cents  to  three  dollars  an  acre, 
which  subsequently  formed  the  first  holdings  of  the  Delaware  and 
Hudson  Company. 

The  original  charter  was  granted  to  the  Delaware  and  Hudson 
Canal  Company  by  the  legislature  of  the  State  of  New  York  in  1823. 
Two  years  later  ground  was  broken  for  a  canal,  which,  reaching  from 
Rondout,  on  the  Hudson,  to  Honesdale,  Pennsylvania,  one  hundred 
and  eight  miles,  was  completed  in  1828,  at  a  cost  of  $6,300,000. 
This  was  within  the  estimates,  and  less  than  had  been  calculated 
by  the  engineers.  The  canal  was  intended  almost  solely  for  carrying 

[50] 


THE  SUMMER  PARADISE  IN  HISTORY 

coal,  which  was  first  mined  within  the  present  limits  of  Carbondale. 
It  was  carried  over  a  gravity  railroad,  begun  in  1827  and  completed 
in  1829,  to  the  canal  at  Honesdale.  It  was  on  this  railroad  that  the 
"Stourbridge  Lion,"  the  first  locomotive  engine  that  ever  turned  a 
wheel  on  any  railroad  on  this  continent,  was  used.  It  was  imported 
from  England  by  the  Delaware  and  Hudson  Canal  Company,  taken 
by  canal-boat  from  New  York  to  Carbondale,  Pa.,  and  the  first  trip 
made  August  8,  1829,  from  Honesdale  to  Seeleyville  and  return. 
The  first  boats  carried  twenty-five  tons  each,  but,  by  enlargements 
of  the  canal  in  1844  and  in  1862,  boats  carrying  from  one  hundred 
and  twenty-five  to  one  hundred  and  fifty  tons  were  used.  The  final 
capacity  of  the  canal,  with  its  equipments,  in  ordinary  boating  seasons, 
was  2,500,000  tons  annually.  The  canal  was  abandoned  January  1, 
1899,  since  which  time  the  entire  coal  and  freight  carrying  business 
of  the  company  has  been  done  by  rail. 

DE  COURCELLES,  EXPEDITIONS  OF.  The  first  armed 
French  expedition  from  the  forts  at  the  foot  of  Lake  Champlain 
started  southward  in  January,  1666,  to  punish  the  Iroquois  for  their 
depredations  against  the  French  settlements.  It  consisted  of  three 
hundred  of  the  Carignan  regiment  and  two  hundred  habitants. 
They  lost  their  way  through  the  incompetence  of  guides,  and  on 
February  9th  reached  the  vicinity  of  what  is  now  Schenectady. 
Here  they  were  led  into  an  ambush  by  the  Indians  and  many  were 
killed.  But  for  the  intercession  of  Arendt  Van  Corlear,  an  influential 
settler  of  Albany,  they  would  doubtless  all  have  been  massacred. 
On  October  1st  of  the  same  year  De  Courcelles  commanded  the 
vanguard  of  another  expedition  into  the  Mohawk  country,  under 
De  Tracy,  which  was  entirely  successful.  The  villages  were  ravaged 
and  large  stores  of  corn  and  other  provisions  were  burned,  as  the 
result  of  which  the  French  settlements  enjoyed  several  years  of 
comparative  peace. 

DOWNIE,  CAPTAIN  GEORGE,  commanded  the  British  squad- 
ron in  the  battle  of  Lake  Champlain  (q.  v.).  He  was  killed  hi  the 
action  and  buried,  with  the  other  British  and  American  officers  who 
fell  in  the  same  engagement,  in  the  Plattsburg  cemetery. 

DUTCHMAN'S  POINT,  on  the  island  of  North  Hero  in  Lake 
Champlain,  was  the  location  of  a  British  post,  which  was  maintained 
there  for  thirteen  years  after  the  close  of  the  Revolution.  It  made  no 
demonstration  against  the  inhabitants  and  was  finally  abandoned. 
Another  post  was  held  at  Point  au  Fer  at  the  same  tune. 

[51] 


THE  SUMMER  PARADISE  IN  HISTORY 

THLLSWORTH,  COL.  ELMER  E.,  one  of  the  first,  if  not  actually 
JLJ  the  first,  victim  of  the  Civil  War,  is  buried  at  Mechanicville, 
his  birthplace,  where  there  is  a  monument  to  his  memory,  which  can 
be  seen  from  the  car  windows.  Organizer  of  a  zouave  regiment  of 
New  York  City  firemen,  though  only  twenty-four  years  of  age,  hand- 
some as  an  Apollo,  brave  to  rashness,  and  popular  to  idolatry,  his  death, 
May  24, 1861,  after  having  recklessly  torn  a  Confederate  flag  from  the 
roof  of  a  hotel  in  Alexandria  as  his  regiment  was  entering  Virginia, 
created  the  wildest  excitement  throughout  the  North. 


TWIDDLER'S  ELBOW  is  a  sharp  bend  in  Wood  Creek,  close  to  the 
A  tracks  of  the  Delaware  and  Hudson,  about  a  mile  north  of  White- 
hall, where  the  stream  turns  abruptly  to  the  east.  Here  a  sharp 
engagement  was  fought  between  rangers  under  Israel  Putnam  and 
a  party  of  French  from  Ticonderoga  under  Marin,  in  June,  1758, 
while  Abercrombie's  army  was  advancing  to  Lake  George  prepara- 
tory to  the  attack  on  Ticonderoga.  (See  Abercrombie's  Expedition.) 
Putnam  had  been  ordered  to  scout  with  fifty  rangers  along  Wood 
Creek  and  South  Bay.  "He  proceeded  down  the  creek  to  Fiddler's 
Elbow  where  high  rocks  jut  into  the  stream,  and,  compressing  it 
into  narrow  limits,  make  a  short  and  sudden  curve.  On  this  he 
erected  a  stone  breastwork,  about  thirty  feet  long,  and  concealed 
its  front  by  pine  trees,  so  placed  as  to  present  the  appearance  of  a 
natural  growth  of  forest.  On  the  fourth  day,  at  evening,  a  body  of 
men  from  Carillon,  in  boats,  commanded  by  M.  Marin,  was  seen 
entering  the  mouth  of  the  creek.  The  moon  was  at  its  full  and  shed 
its  clear,  yellow  light  upon  every  movement  of  the  enemy.  In  the 
dead  silence  was  heard  the  murmur  of  voices,  and  even  the  ripples 
that  broke  around  the  barges.  Continuing  to  advance,  some  of  the 
boats  had  already  passed  the  parapet,  when  a  soldier's  musket, 
accidently  striking  a  stone,  gave  a  ring  so  audible,  in  the  stillness  of 
the  evening,  that  the  leading  canoes  stopped.  The  others  coming 
up,  they  lay  upon  their  oars  at  the  base  of  the  cliff — five  hundred 
men  crowded  together,  their  upturned  faces  distinctly  seen  by  the 
light  of  the  evening.  They  gazed  intently  at  the  parapet,  upon  the 
apex  of  which,  like  a  bird  of  prey  in  his  eyrie,  Putnam  was  watching 
his  victims.  The  low  'O'wish'  of  the  Indian  stole  over  the  water. 
A  moment  more,  and  the  word  'Fire!'  broke  upon  their  ears  in 
startling  clearness  from  the  lips  of  the  provincial  commander.  At 
once  the  flash  of  musketry  gleamed  from  the  bushes,  and  a  shower 

[52] 


THE  SUMMER  PARADISE  IN  HISTORY 

of  balls  sent  death  into  the  mass  beneath.  All  was  confusion;  and 
while  some  moved  out  from  the  thickest  of  the  crowd,  others  replied 
by  a  volley  of  bullets  which  cut  through  the  trees  and  struck  harm- 
lessly against  the  rocks.  The  fight,  such  as  it  was,  was  continued 
during  the  entire  night.  The  French  detached  a  body  of  men  to 
effect  a  landing  and  charge  upon  the  rear  of  the  provincials.  Lieut. 
Robert  Durkee,  with  a  detail  of  twelve  men,  was  sent  to  oppose 
them  in  this  design,  in  which  he  succeeded.  In  the  morning,  his 
ammunition  being  exhausted,  Putnam  retreated,  leaving  two 
wounded  soldiers.  As  he  was  falling  back,  the  commander  was  met 
by  a  party  who  had  come  out  to  his  assistance.  Before  they  could 
be  recognized,  they  received  a  volley,  which,  however,  was  harmless. 
'Friends  or  foes,'  said  Putnam,  'you  deserve  to  perish  for  doing  so 
little  execution.' " — Butler. 

FIRST  NAVAL  BATTLE  ON  LAKE  CHAMPLAIN.  Following 
the  capture  of  Fort  Ticonderoga  and  Fort  St.  Frederic  by  General 
Amherst  in  1759,  a  small  fleet  was  hastily  constructed  by  the  British 
under  the  direction  of  Captain  Loring,  who  set  sail  for  the  north  on 
October  llth.  On  the  13th  he  encountered  a  schooner  and  three 
sloops,  which  he  forced  aground  on  Valcour  Island,  thus  winning 
the  first  naval  battle  on  the  inland  sea. 

FORT  ANN,  formerly  spelled  Fort  Anne,  was  at  first  known  as 
Fort  Schuyler  in  honor  of  Col.  Peter  Schuyler,  who  commanded  the 
vanguard  of  Nicholson's  Expedition  (q.  v.)  against  the  French  in 
1709.  Fort  Schuyler  was  destroyed  by  Colonel  Nicholson  when  his 
army  retreated  to  Albany,  but  two  years  later,  when  Nicholson's 
second  expedition  reached  that  spot,  was  rechristened  Queen's  Fort, 
and  then  Fort  Anne.  It  was  rebuilt  in  1757,  and  the  following  year 
Capt.  Robert  Rogers  fought  an  engagement  near  here  with  a  force 
of  French  and  Indians  under  Marin.  In  1777  General  Schuyler 
made  it  his  headquarters  for  a  time;  but  when  Burgoyne  reached  the 
head  of  Lake  Champlain  (see  Burgoyne's  Campaign),  the  Americans 
retreated  to  Fort  Edward,  felling  trees  across  the  old  military  road, 
demolishing  the  causeways  over  the  great  Kingsbury  marshes,  and 
destroying  bridges  to  obstruct  the  progress  of  the  invader.  Later  the 
British  occupied  the  partly  burned  fortifications. 

FORT  BLUNDER  was  the  name  by  which  for  a  time  Fort 
Montgomery,  one  mile  north  of  Rouse's  Point  on  the  Canadian 
frontier,  was  known,  because  of  the  fact  that  after  a  large  amount 
of  work  had  been  expended  thereon,  it  was  discovered  to  be  on 

[63] 


THE  SUMMER  PARADISE  IN  HISTORY 

Canadian  territory.  It  was  thereupon  abandoned  till  a  change 
of  boundary  gave  the  land  to  the  United  States,  when  the  fortifica- 
tion was  completed  at  a  cost  of  $600,000.  It  commands  the  Riche- 
lieu River  and  was  designed  for  one  hundred  and  sixty-four  guns. 
It  was  never  garrisoned,  however,  and  though  now  hi  excellent 
preservation,  and  a  point  of  much  interest  to  the  traveler,  is  entirely 
out  of  date.  The  top  of  its  walls  may  be  seen  to  the  east  from  the 
car  windows,  just  north  of  Rouse's  Point. 

FORT  CHAMBLY  was  built  at  the  foot  of  the  falls  of  Chambly, 
in  the  present  valley  of  Chambly,  by  Captain  de  Chambly  of  the 
Carignan-Salieres  (q.  v.)  regiment  in  1664.  He  called  it  Fort  St. 
Louis,  but  it  was  later  known  as  Fort  Chambly.  It  was  one  of  the 
line  of  forts  built  by  the  French  as  bases  for  their  expeditions  against 
the  Iroquois. 

FORT  CLINTON  was  Fort  Saratoga,  as  it  was  rebuilt  a  year 
after  the  Saratoga  Massacre  of  November  16,  1745.  The  location 
was  somewhat  changed,  however,  to  avoid  interfering  with  some 
wheat-fields  which  were  then  growing.  During  the  night  of  the  17th 
of  June,  1747,  it  "was  approached  by  a  band  of  French  and  Indians 
under  the  command  of  La  Corne  St.  Luc.  While  the  main  body 
of  the  French  were  lying  in  concealment  near  by,  La  Corne  sent 
forward  six  scouts  with  orders  to  lie  in  ambush  within  eight  paces 
of  the  fort,  to  fire  upon  those  who  should  first  come  out  of  the  fort 
the  next  morning,  and,  if  attacked,  to  retreat,  pretending  to  be 
wounded.  At  daybreak  in  the  morning  two  Englishmen  came  out 
of  the  fort,  and  they  were  at  once  fired  upon  by  the  French  scouts, 
who  thereupon  fled.  Soon  after  the  firing  began,  a  hundred  and 
twenty  Englishmen  came  out  of  the  fort,  headed  by  their  officers, 
and  started  in  hot  pursuit  of  the  French  scouts.  The  English  soon 
fell  in  with  the  main  body  of  the  French,  who,  rising  from  their 
ambuscade,  poured  a  galling  fire  into  the  English  ranks.  The 
English  at  first  bravely  stood  their  ground  and  sharply  returned 
the  fire.  The  guns  of  the  fort  also  opened  upon  the  French  with 
grape  and  cannon-shot.  But  the  Indians  soon  rushed  upon  the 
English  with  terrible  yells,  and  with  tomahawk  in  hand  drove  them 
into  the  fort,  giving  them  scarcely  time  to  shut  the  gates  behind 
them.  Many  of  the  English  soldiers,  being  unable  to  reach  the  fort, 
ran  down  the  hill  into  the  river,  and  were  drowned  or  killed  with 
the  tomahawk.  The  Indians  killed  and  scalped  twenty-eight  of  the 

[54] 


THE  SUMMER  PARADISE  IN  HISTORY 

English,  and  took  forty-five  prisoners,  besides  those  drowned  in  the 
river." — Sylvester. 

In  the  fall  of  1747  Fort  Clinton  was  abandoned  and  burned  by 
order  of  Governor  Clinton,  on  the  ground  that  the  Assembly  did 
not  furnish  enough  troops  and  supplies  to  protect  it  from  northern 
attacks. 

FORT  CROWN  POINT  was  originally  an  English  trading  station, 
but  about  1731,  when  Louis  XV  was  king  and  the  nations  were  at 
peace,  the  French  erected  here  a  fort  which  was  called  Fort  St.  Frederic, 
consisting  of  a  wall  of  limestone,  high  and  thick,  enclosing  stone 
barracks,  a  church  and  a  tall  bomb-proof  tower,  the  armament  con- 
sisting of  sixty-two  cannon.  The  shores  were  then  much  more 
thickly  settled  than  now;  a  town  of  1,500  inhabitants  being  near 
the  fort,  with  gardens,  vineyards,  stores  and  paved  streets.  It  was 
the  intention  of  the  French  to  make  this  the  capital  of  the  new 
province  extending  from  the  Connecticut  River  to  Lake  Ontario. 
An  article  in  the  Royal  Magazine  for  January,  1760,  accompany  ing 
a  view  of  the  original  Fort  St.  Frederic,  says:  "Here  the  French  col- 
lected their  whole  force,  and  from  hence  those  shoals  of  scalping 
parties,  those  foes  to  humanity,  and  scandal  to  the  Christian  name, 
issued  to  plunder  and  destroy  the  innocent  inhabitants  of  the 
adjacent  country." 

The  French  held  this  fort,  in  spite  of  hostile  English  expeditions 
against  it  in  1755-56,  till  1759,  when  the  garrison,  with  that  of  Fort 
Ticonderoga,  retreated  down  the  lake.  General  Amherst  then  took 
possession,  and  in  1759-60  began  work  on  fortifications  the  ruins  of 
which  still  remain,  and  which,  although  never  completed,  are  said 
to  have  ultimately  cost  the  incredible  sum  of  $10,000,000!  The 
ramparts  were  twenty-five  feet  thick,  and  nearly  the  same  in  height, 
faced  with  solid  masonry.  The  whole  circuit  was  853  yards.  A 
broad  ditch  surrounded  the  works,  and  from  the  northeast  bastion 
a  covered  way  led  to  the  water.  In  1773  the  barracks  took  fire  and 
the  magazine  exploded,  partly  demolishing  the  fortification.  The 
fort  was  for  a  time  known  as  Fort  Amherst. 

On  May  11,  1775,  Seth  Warner,  at  the  head  of  a  company  of 
Green  Mountain  Boys,  captured  the  fort,  then  garrisoned  by  only 
twelve  men.  (See  Fort  Ticonderoga.)  In  1775,  on  the  approach  of 
General  Burgoyne,  it  was  temporarily  abandoned  by  the  Americans, 
and  has  never  since  resumed  military  prominence.  The  ruins  occupy 
the  promontory  between  the  lake  and  Bulwagga  Bay,  six  milea 
north  of  the  present  town,  and  are  reached  by  ferry  from  Port 

[55] 


THE  SUMMER  PARADISE  IN  HISTORY 

Henry.  Prior  to  March,  1910,  they  were  the  property  of  F.  S.  and 
W.  C.  Witherbee  of  Port  Henry,  who  presented  to  the  State  of 
New  York,  by  deed  of  gift,  both  the  ruins  and  the  land  upon  which 
they  stand,  upon  condition  that  they  be  "forever  dedicated  to  the 
purpose  of  a  public  park  or  reservation,  the  people  of  the  State  of 
New  York  agreeing  to  protect  the  fort  ruins  on  said  land  from  spolia- 
tion and  further  disintegration,  to  the  end  that  they  may  be 
preserved  for  all  time,  so  far  as  may  be."  They  were  accepted  by 
the  legislature  in  1910,  since  which  time  the  walls  of  the  buildings 
that  still  stand  within  the  earthworks  have  been  strengthened  and 
preserved  by  forcing  a  thin  solution  of  concrete  into  the  cracks  of 
the  stonework,  where  the  original  mortar  had  decomposed.  The 
character  of  the  structures  has  been  in  no  way  changed,  and  no 
attempt  has  been  made  to  restore  them  to  the  form  in  which  they 
originally  stood,  but  simply  to  preserve  them  against  the  further 
action  of  the  elements.  On  the  site  the  State  of  New  York  will 
maintain  a  museum  containing  relics  and  other  objects  of  interest 
recovered  from  the  ruins.  On  the  point  to  the  east  of  the  fort  stands 
the  Champlain  Memorial,  a  lighthouse  topped  with  a  gigantic 
bronze  figure  of  the  discoverer  of  the  lake.  The  Champlain  Memorial 
and  the  ruins  of  Fort  Amherst  and  Fort  St.  Frederic  thus  constitute 
one  of  the  most  interesting  objectives  for  visitors  in  the  whole 
extent  of  the  lake.  Many  thousands  of  them  cross  each  season  on 
the  little  ferry  from  Port  Henry  to  climb  the  mammoth  works 
which  were  designed  to  hold  the  power  of  Great  Britain  secure 
forever  upon  the  inland  sea. 

FORT  EDWARD.  The  first  fortification  to  be  established  on 
the  present  site  of  Fort  Edward,  at  the  Hudson  River  end  of  the 
Great  Carrying  Place  (q.  v.),  was  Fort  Nicholson.  It  was  built  by 
Col.  Peter  Schuyler,  the  commander  of  the  vanguard  of  Nicholson's 
Expedition  (q.  v.)  against  Crown  Point  in  1709.  Upon  the  retreat 
of  Nicholson's  army  from  Lake  Champlain  it  was  abandoned.  In 
1732  John  Henry  Lydius  purchased  from  the  Indians  a  large  section 
of  land  covering  the  Great  Carrying  Place,  constructed  a  block- 
house and  a  sawmill,  and  established  a  colony  which  he  named 
Fort  Lydius.  His  settlement  was  destroyed  by  the  French  and 
Indians  on  their  way  to  the  Massacre  of  Schenectady  in  1745.  In 
1755  Gen.  Phinehaa  Lyman,  an  officer  in  Johnson's  Expedition 
(q.  v.),  built  another  fortification  at  the  end  of  the  Great  Carrying 
Place,  which  he  called  Fort  Lyman.  It  was  a  strong,  irregular, 
quadrangular  fortification,  and  was  not  fairly  completed  when  the 

166] 


THE  SUMMER  PARADISE  IN  HISTORY 

Battle  of  Lake  George  (q.  v.)  was  fought.  General  Johnson  evinced 
his  loyalty  to  the  crown  by  changing  the  name  to  Fort  Edward  in 
honor  of  the  Duke  of  York.  Here,  in  1757,  the  survivors  of  the  Fort 
William  Henry  Massacre  took  refuge.  During  both  the  French  and 
Indian  War  and  that  of  the  Revolution,  Fort  Edward  was  the  start- 
ing point  for  expeditions  against  Canada.  In  1777  it  was  the  head- 
quarters of  the  Americans  after  their  retreat  from  Fort  Ticonderoga, 
and  later  was  occupied  by  General  Burgoyne.  (See  Burgoyne's 
Campaign.)  It  was  used  by  the  Americana  until  the  close  of  the 
Revolution,  and  then  fell  into  disuse. 

FORT  FREDERIC  was  a  large,  well-armed  fort,  which,  during 
the  French  and  Indian  War,  stood  on  State  Street  in  Albany,  just 
below  the  site  of  the  Capitol.  It  is  not  to  be  confused  with  that  of 
Fort  St.  Frederic,  which  was  the  original  fortification  at  Crown 
Point.  Albany  was  at  all  times  prepared  to  resist  an  attack,  but  no 
engagement  was  ever  fought  at  that  point. 

FORT  GAGE.  Travelers  on  the  old  stage  coaches,  which  in  the 
"seventies"  of  the  last  century  ran  between  the  Glens  Falls  terminus 
of  the  Delaware  and  Hudson  Railroad,  then  the  end  of  the  line,  and 
Lake  George,  as  they  rolled  over  the  famous  old  plank  road,  now 
part  of  the  State  Road  System,  would  pass  a  sign  about  a  mile  south 
of  Fort  William  Henry,  reading  "Fort  Gage."  The  early  history 
of  this  fort,  which  was  on  a  rise  of  ground  to  the  left  of  the  road,  is 
entirely  lost.  It  is  supposed,  however,  to  have  been  fortified  early 
in  the  French  and  Indian  War,  and  to  have  been  supplied  with  big 
guns,  as  it  commanded  the  approach  to  Fort  George  on  the  north. 
Tradition  states  that  in  1758  Lord  Howe  encamped  here  with  the 
advance  guard  of  Abercrombie's  army  and  engaged  with  Stark, 
Putnam,  Duncan  Campbell  and  the  New  Englanders  in  "jumping 
the  stick."  It  is  said  that  Lord  Howe  beat  the  New  Englanders  at 
their  own  game  by  crossing  the  bar  at  six  feet  and  six  inches.  The 
hill  was  later  named  for  Brig.-Gen.  Thomas  Gage,  second  in 
command  to  Amherst  in  1759.  On  its  crest  the  trolley  cars  of  the 
Hudson  Valley  Railway  now  pass  a  switching  point  on  their  way  to 
and  from  the  historic  points  to  the  southward. 

FORT  GEORGE  was  built  at  the  head  of  Lake  George  by  General 
Amherst,  in  1759,  as  a  base  in  his  advance  against  Fort  Ticonderoga 
(q.  v.).  It  was  on  higher  ground  than  Fort  William  Henry,  although 
commanded  by  points  near  by.  Charles  Dudley  Warner,  who 
visited  this  locality  several  years  ago,  and  wrote  his  impressions  for 

[57] 


THE  SUMMER  PARADISE  IN  HISTORY 


[58] 


THE  SUMMER  PARADISE  IN  HISTORY 

Harper's  Magazine,  said:  "Fort  George,  although  in  a  most  dilapi- 
dated condition,  due  in  part  to  the  disgraceful  conduct  of  neighbor- 
ing farmers,  who  burned  part  of  its  walls  for  lime,  yet  remains  a 
picturesque  ruin — one  of  the  few  we  still  possess.  It  is  star-shaped, 
and  stands  on  a  slight  eminence  in  a  valley  surrounded  by  lofty 
hills.  It  must  have  been  a  difficult  position  to  carry  by  assault  in 
those  days.  A  few  years  ago  the  lake  could  be  distinctly  seen  from 
the  fort,  but  the  pines  have  since  grown  up  and  formed  a  massive 
screen,  as  if  to  shelter  it  from  further  damage  from  the  elements  or 
man.  It  is  a  charming  spot  towards  evening,  a  scene  of  extraordinary 
beauty  and  repose.  The  purple  shadows  slowly  creep  up  the  hill- 
sides; on  the  stillness  float  the  far-off  crow  of  the  barnyard  fowls, 
and  the  tinkle  of  their  bells  as  the  cattle  wend  homeward;  and 
nearer  by  are  heard  the  plaintive,  monotonous  peep  of  the  phcebe- 
bird,  the  buzz  of  the  locust,  and  the  cricket's  creaking  soliloquy. 
What  does  he  care  what  happened  at  Fort  George  last  century,  if 
you  but  leave  him  to  chirp  at  his  own  sweet  will? 

Fort  George  was  captured  on  May  12,  1775,  by  Col.  Bernard 
Romans,  who  had  originally  enrolled  as  a  member  of  Ethan  Allen's 
expedition  against  Ticonderoga.  He  left  Allen's  party  at  Pittsfield, 
Massachusetts,  apparently  to  everybody's  satisfaction,  and  pro- 
ceeded alone  to  Fort  Edward,  where  he  enlisted  sixteen  men  and 
went  on  to  Fort  George.  Fort  George  at  this  time  was  occupied 
only  by  a  caretaker,  whose  chief  duty  was  to  assist  in  the  forwarding 
of  expresses  to  and  from  Canada.  The  fort  contained  some  stores, 
however,  which  Romans  took  possession  of  for  the  Continental  army. 

FORT  HARDY  was  built  in  August,  1755,  by  Gen.  Phinehas 
Lyman,  at  the  mouth  of  Fish  Creek,  on  the  Hudson,  now  Schuyler- 
ville.  It  was  named  for  Sir  Charles  Hardy,  Governor  of  New  York, 
and  was  intended  primarily  as  a  supply  post  for  Johnson's  Expedi- 
tion (q.  v.),  which  was  then  advancing  against  Crown  Point.  (See 
Fort  Saratoga  and  Fort  Clinton.) 

FORT  INGOLDSBY  was  built  during  Queen  Anne's  War,  in 
1709,  near  the  present  village  of  Stillwater,  on  the  Hudson,  by 
Col.  Peter  Schuyler.  It  was  named  in  honor  of  the  lieutenant- 
governor  of  the  province,  and  was  intended  as  a  supply  post  in 
Nicholson's  Expedition  (q.  v.)  against  the  French  in  Canada. 

FORT  LA  PRAIRIE  marked  the  site  of  a  French  settlement  on 
the  south  bank  of  the  St.  Lawrence  River,  above  the  mouth  of  the 
Richelieu.  An  expedition  against  it  was  conducted  by  Capt. 

[59] 


THE  SUMMER  PARADISE  IN  HISTORY 

John  Schuyler  in  August,  1690,  following  the  abandonment  of 
Winthrop's  Expedition  (q.  v.),  as  a  retaliation  for  the  Massacre  of 
Schenectady.  The  inhabitants  were  surprised  as  they  were  at  work 
in  the  fields,  but  retreated  to  the  fort  with  the  loss  of  six  killed  and 
nineteen  taken  prisoners.  One  hundred  and  fifty  head  of  oxen  were 
slaughtered  and  all  of  the  houses  and  barns  outside  the  fort  were 
burned.  The  following  year,  June,  1691,  Schuyler's  brother,  Maj. 
Philip  Schuyler,  surprised  the  fort  again,  captured  it,  killed  many 
of  its  defenders,  and  withdrew  to  Albany,  after  first  fighting  an 
engagement  with  the  French  in  the  woods,  in  which  about  two 
hundred  of  them  were  killed  or  wounded.  Schuyler's  loss  was 
trifling.  (See  Battle  of  Wilton.) 

FORT  LYDIUS  was  built  on  the  ruins  of  old  Fort  Nicholson  by 
John  Henry  Lydius,  who  in  1732  purchased  from  the  Indians  a 
large  section  of  land  covering  the  Great  Carrying  Place,  constructed 
a  blockhouse  and  sawmill,  and  established  a  colony.  The  settle- 
ment was  destroyed  by  the  French  and  Indians  on  their  way  to  the 
Massacre  of  Schenectady  in  November,  1745. 

FORT  LYMAN  was  built  at  the  beginning  of  the  Great  Carrying 
Place  in  July,  1755,  by  Gen.  Phinehas  Lyman,  who  commanded  a 
body  of  provincial  troops  and  Indians,  forming  part  of  Johnson's 
army  for  the  attack  upon  Fort  St.  Frederic.  Johnson  later  changed 
the  name  to  Fort  Edward.  (See  Johnson's  Expedition.) 

FORT  MILLER  was  built  during  Queen  Anne's  War,  in  1709, 
at  the  rapids  in  the  Hudson  between  Schuylerville  and  Fort  Edward, 
by  Col.  Peter  Schuyler,  who  commanded  the  vanguard  of  Nichol- 
son's Expedition  (q.  v.).  It  was  designed  to  defend  the  landing 
at  that  point,  and  was  thus  an  important  link  in  the  chain  of  posts 
established  to  relay  supplies  for  the  expedition. 

FORT  NASSAU  was  the  first  fort  built  on  the  present  site  of 
Albany.  It  was  erected  by  Hendrick  Christensen  in  1614,  on  Castle 
Island,  near  the  end  of  the  old  Indian  Carrying  Place  to  the  Mohawk 
at  Schenectady.  Castle  Island  was  on  the  east  side  of  the  river  below 
Rensselaer  and  was  for  a  long  time  known  as  Patroon's  Island.  It  has 
since  been  joined  with  the  mainland  and  has  entirely  lost  its  identity. 

FORT  RICHELIEU  was  the  first  fort  built  by  the  French  to 
protect  their  settlements  on  the  St.  Lawrence  from  the  expeditions 
of  the  Iroquois  down  Lake  Champlain.  It  was  erected  at  the  mouth 
of  the  Richelieu  River,  in  1641,  by  De  Montagny,  who  succeeded 
Champlain  as  governor  of  New  France,  and  was  named  after  Cardinal 

[60] 


THE  SUMMER  PARADISE  IN  HISTORY 

Richelieu,  then  at  the  height  of  his  power  in  France.  It  was  later 
abandoned,  but  in  1664  was  again  rebuilt  by  order  of  Marquis  de 
Tracy.  (See  Carignan-Salieres.) 

FORT  SARATOGA  was  built  in  1709,  on  the  Hudson,  nearly 
opposite  the  mouth  of  Fish  Creek,  by  Col.  Peter  Schuyler,  who 
commanded  the  vanguard  of  Nicholson's  Expedition  (q.  v.),  on  the 
spot  where  he  had  built  a  blockhouse  in  1690  (see  Winthrop's  Ex- 
pedition), and  about  which  since  that  date  a  little  settlement  had 
grown  up.  It  was  planned  as  one  of  the  chain  of  supply  posts  in 
Nicholson's  Expedition  against  the  French.  (See  Fort  Clinton.) 

FORT  ST.  ANNE,  the  fourth  in  the  chain  of  French  forts  in  the 
Champlain  Valley,  was  built  by  Captain  de  La  Mothe  on  Isle  La 
Motte  in  1665.  It  was  the  last  outpost  from  which  the  French  made 
their  raids  into  the  territory  of  the  Iroquois  and  from  which  their 
expeditions  for  the  Massacres  of  Shenectady  and  Saratoga  set  out. 
(See  Carignan-Salieres.) 

FORT  ST.  JOHN,  on  the  Richelieu  River,  was  occupied  as  a 
British  post  during  the  Revolution.  It  was  besieged  by  Montgomery 
in  his  advance  on  Montreal  in  1775,  and  surrendered  to  him  Novem- 
ber 3d.  (See  Montgomery's  Expedition.) 

FORT  ST.  THERESA  was  the  third  in  the  chain  of  forts  on  the 
Richelieu  River,  erected  in  1664  by  order  of  Marquis  de  Tracy, 
Viceroy  of  Canada,  to  offset  the  Iroquois.  It  was  located  nine  miles 
south  of  the  present  village  of  Chambly.  (See  Carignan-Salieres.) 

FORT  TICONDEROGA.  The  first  fort  built  on  the  promontory 
which  so  perfectly  commands  the  southern  extremity  of  Lake 
Champlain  was  erected  by  the  French  in  1755  to  prevent  the 
English  from  entering  Canada,  and  was  called  by  them  Fort  Carillon 
(a  chime  of  bells),  in  recognition  of  the  music  of  near-by  waterfalls. 
Here,  in  1757,  Montcalm  assembled  a  force  of  9,000  men,  with 
which,  sweeping  up  Lake  George,  he  captured  the  English  fort 
at  its  head.  (See  Fort  William  Henry.)  In  July  of  the  following 
year  the  English  general,  James  Abercrombie,  unsuccessfully 
stormed  Fort  Carillon  with  15,000  men,  of  whom  2,000  were  killed, 
including  Lord  Howe  (q.v.).  (See  Abercrombie's  Expedition.) 

In  1759,  however,  Abercrombie's  successor,  General  Amherst,  was 
more  fortunate,  investing  the  fort  with  12,000  men.  The  French, 
under  General  Bourlamarque,  by  this  time  too  weak  to  do  other- 
wise, dismantled  and  abandoned  both  this  fort  and  Fort  St.  Frederic, 

[611 


THE  SUMMER  PARADISE  IN  HISTORY 

and  retired  permanently  to  Canada.  After  they  had  gone,  three 
deserters  came  into  the  English  camp  reporting  the  fact  of  the 
embarkation  and  that  a  match  was  burning  in  the  magazine  that 
would  soon  blow  the  fortress  to  atoms.  General  Amherst  offered  a 
hundred  guineas  to  any  one  of  them  who  would  point  out  the 
match  so  that  it  could  be  cut,  but  all  shrank  from  the  perilous 
venture.  This  was  at  ten  o'clock.  All  was  silent  till  eleven,  when  a 
broad,  fierce  glare  burst  on  the  night  and  a  roaring  explosion  shook 
the  promontory;  then  came  a  few  breathless  moments,  and  frag- 
ments of  the  old  fort  fell  with  clatter  and  splash  on  the  surrounding 
land  and  water.  But  one  bastion  had  thus  been  hurled  skyward. 
The  rest  of  the  fort  was  little  hurt,  though  the  barracks  were  on 
fire.  Thus  ended  the  first  act  in  the  eventful  drama  of  "Old  Ti." 

After  the  cession  of  Canada  to  Great  Britain,  the  name  of  the 
fort  was  changed  to  Fort  Ticonderoga.  It  was  weakly  garrisoned; 
and  the  War  of  the  Revolution  being  well  under  way,  one  morning 
at  daybreak,  in  May,  1775,  it  was  surprised  by  Ethan  Allen  (q.v.) 
with  his  "Green  Mountain  Boys."  The  garrison  promptly  yielded, 
and  the  fort  and  its  armament  came  quietly  into  the  possession  of 
the  Americans.  Credit  for  inspiring  this  attack  has  been  claimed 
not  only  by  Allen,  but  also  by  Benedict  Arnold,  Col.  Samuel  Holden 
Parsons,  of  Connecticut,  and  William  Gilliland.  It  is  probable 
that  it  occurred  to  many  at  the  same  time. 

In  the  summer  of  1777,  General  Burgoyne,  on  his  way  down  from 
Canada,  or  perhaps,  more  exactly  speaking,  his  second  in  command, 
Gen.  William  Phillips,  an  artillery  officer  of  skill  and  energy,  placed, 
in  spite  of  tremendous  natural  obstacles,  a  battery  on  Sugar  Loaf 
Hill,  or  Mt.  Defiance  (q.v.),  and  so  compelled  the  bloodless  evacua- 
tion of  the  old  fortification,  General  St.  Clair  retreating  without  resist- 
ance. Later  in  the  same  year  Gen.  Benjamin  Lincoln  recaptured 
Mt.  Defiance,  releasing  one  hundred  American  prisoners  and  taking 
two  hundred  and  ninety-three  of  the  English,  but  failed  to  recover 
the  fort  itself.  After  Burgoyne  surrendered  at  Saratoga,  the  English 
garrison  was  removed  and  the  fort  dismantled,  although  in  1780 
another  English  force  under  General  Haldimand  was  stationed 
there  for  a  time. 

Today,  in  all  this  fair  and  happy  land,  no  more  peaceful  scene 
presents  itself  than  these  old  ruined  walls  and  their  environment, 
where  thousands  of  the  brave  men  of  two  great  nations  have  died, 
and  human  blood  has  flowed  like  water.  They  have  been  partly 
restored  and  preserved  against  further  despoliation  at  the  hands 

[62] 


THE  SUMMER  PARADISE  IN  HISTORY 

of  time  by  the  Pell  family,  decendants  of  William  F.  Pell,  who 
acquired  the  property  in  1818. 

FORT  WILLIAM,  a  blockhouse  erected  near  the  mouth  of 
Otter  Creek,  witnessed  part  of  the  bitter  strife  between  the  settlers 
under  the  New  Hampshire  grants  and  those  from  New  York.  A 
New  York  grant  gave  to  John  Reid  a  tract  four  miles  wide  on  both 
sides  of  Otter  Creek,  from  its  mouth  to  Sutherland  Falls.  Settlers 
under  a  New  Hampshire  patent,  after  having  cleared  the  land  and 
made  roads,  were  driven  out  by  Reid.  Ethan  Allen's  Green  Moun- 
tain Boys  thereupon  ejected  Reid  and  his  party  and  destroyed 
their  gristmill.  Reid  returned  with  a  party  of  Scotch  settlers  and 
once  more  expelled  the  original  owners  and  repaired  the  mill.  Again 
the  Green  Mountain  Boys  visited  Reid's  settlement,  driving  off 
the  Scotch  immigrants,  burning  their  crops  and  breaking  the  mill- 
stones, which  they  threw  over  the  falls.  The  Green  Mountain 
Boys  thereupon  erected  Fort  William  to  clinch  their  advantage. 

FORT  WILLIAM  HENRY,  built  at  the  head  of  Lake  George 
by  Gen.  Sir  William  Johnson  in  1755,  was  named  in  honor  of  William 
Henry,  Duke  of  Gloucester,  grandson  of  George  II  and  brother 
of  George  III.  It  was  well  placed  to  command  one  of  the  most 
strategic  locations  on  the  war  trails  from  Lake  Champlain  to 
Albany.  Here  began  the  long  portage  from  Lake  George  to  the 
Hudson  at  Fort  Edward,  and  from  here  could  be  launched  attacks 
over  the  mountain-hemmed  waters  of  the  lake  against  the  French 
in  Canada.  The  fort  was  of  pine  logs  banked  with  sand,  had  four 
bastions,  and  was  surrounded  by  a  deep  ditch.  It  stood  upon  a 
slight  eminence  overlooking  the  lake  and  was  admirably  planned 
to  resist  assault.  After  the  battle  of  Lake  George  (q.  v.),  which 
was  fought  September  8,  1755,  before  the  fort  was  built,  General 
Johnson  made  no  further  demonstration  against  the  French  during 
that  season,  occupying  his  time  upon  the  fortifications.  The  fol- 
lowing year,  1756,  the  works  were  materially  strengthened  and 
completed,  while  the  French  were  completing  Fort  Carillon,  later 
called  Fort  Ticonderoga  by  the  English. 

In  March,  1757,  Chevalier  Pierre  Francois  de  Vaudreuil,  with 
1,500  French  and  Indians,  made  a  night  attack  over  the  ice,  which 
was  unsuccessful,  though  they  burned  everything  outside  of  the 
fort,  including  bateaux,  quantities  of  lumber,  provisions  and  houses. 
This  was  the  forerunner  of  a  more  determined  attack  conducted  by 
Montcalm  in  August  of  the  same  year,  who  invested  the  fort  with 

[63] 


THE  SUMMER  PARADISE  IN  HISTORY 

six  thousand  men  and  two  thousand  Indians.  The  works  were 
held  by  only  2,300  men  under  command  of  Colonel  Monroe,  though 
Colonel  Webb  with  large  reinforcements  was  at  Fort  Edward,  only 
fifteen  miles  away.  Monroe's  appeals  for  assistance  were  ignored 
by  Webb,  who  cravenly  kept  to  his  defences.  Finally,  on  August  9, 
Monroe  surrendered  under  Montcalm's  promise  that  his  garrison 
would  be  given  safe  escort  to  Fort  Edward.  They  were  scarcely 
outside  the  walls,  however,  before  the  Indians  set  upon  them  and 
massacred  a  large  number  of  the  defenceless  men,  women  and  chil- 
dren, and  carried  others  into  captivity.  This  single  blot  upon  the 
bright  record  of  Montcalm  has  never  been  satisfactorily  explained. 
Cooper,  in  the  "Last  of  the  Mohicans,"  has  vividly  described  the 
scene  with  the  characteristic  vigor  of  his  imagination.  Parkman, 
however,  has  given  a  more  trustworthy  account.  "On  the  morning 
after  the  massacre,  the  Indians  decamped  in  a  body  and  set  out  for 
Montreal,  carrying  with  them  their  plunder  and  some  two  hundred 
prisoners,  who,  it  was  said,  could  not  be  got  out  of  their  hands. 
The  French  soldiers  were  set  to  the  work  of  demolishing  the  English 
fort,  and  the  task  occupied  several  days.  The  barracks  were  torn 
down,  and  the  large  pine  logs  of  the  rampart  thrown  into  a  heap. 
The  dead  bodies  that  filled  the  casemates  were  added  to  the  mass, 
and  fire  was  set  to  the  whole.  The  mighty  funeral  pyre  blazed  all 
night.  Then  on  the  17th  the  army  re-embarked.  The  din  of  10,000 
combatants,  the  rage,  the  terror,  the  agony  were  gone,  and  no 
living  thing  was  left  but  the  wolves  that  gathered  from  the  moun- 
tains to  feast  upon  the  dead." — Montcalm  and  Wolfe,  Vol.  1. 

Fort  William  Henry  was  never  again  rebuilt,  though  the  follow- 
ing year  saw  the  brilliant  army  of  Abercrombie  encamped  about 
the  ruins  in  preparation  for  its  ill-fated  attack  upon  Ticonderoga. 
The  site  of  the  old  fort  is  now  occupied  by  the  beautiful  Fort  William 
Henry  Hotel,  the  grounds  of  which  include  the  entire  area  of  the 
old  fortification.  The  outlines  of  the  works  may  be  traced  in  the 
mounds  of  earth  under  the  pine  grove  which  has  grown  up  on  the 
spot.  In  their  center  is  a  well,  its  stonework  still  in  excellent  pres- 
ervation, though  its  waters  have  gone  dry.  Standing  within  the 
earthworks,  it  requires  little  imagination  to  picture  the  besieging 
army  of  Montcalm  as  it  drew  closer  and  closer  to  the  walls,  to  hear 
the  exchange  of  cannon  and  musketry  between  the  fort  and  the 
trenches  of  the  French,  or  the  frightful  war-cry  of  the  Indians, 
echoed  a  thousand  times  from  the  surrounding  mountains,  as  they 

[64] 


BRONZE  FIGURES  OF  JOHNSON  AND  ••  KING  "  HENDRICK  SURMOUNT  THE 
LAKE  GEORGE  BATTLE  MONUMENT 


THE  SUMMER  PARADISE  IN  HISTORY 

fell  upon  their  helpless  victims,  on  the  lowland  to  the  south,  where 
the  trail  ran  out  to  Fort  Edward. 

FORT  WINSLOW  was  built  in  1756  at  Stillwater-on-the-Hudson, 
on  the  site  of  Fort  Ingoldsby,  which  had  been  erected  there  by 
Colonel  Schuyler  in  1709.  It  was  named  after  Gen.  John  Winslow, 
who  succeeded  General  Johnson  in  command  of  Fort  William 
Henry  in  1756.  Fort  Winslow  was  designed  as  a  supply  station 
on  the  road  northward  from  Albany. 

FORTS  IN  SCHOHARIE  COUNTY.  During  the  Revolution, 
Schoharie  county  was  frequently  overrun  by  British  and  Indians, 
under  Sir  John  Johnson,  Brant  and  the  notorious  Walter  Butler 
Three  forts  were  erected  by  the  Colonists.  The  Upper  Fort  stood 
near  the  bank  of  Schoharie  Creek,  in  the  present  limits  of  the  town 
of  Fulton,  the  Middle  Fort  was  a  short  distance  from  Middleburg 
Village,  on  the  plain  east  of  the  road  to  Schoharie  Village,  while 
the  Lower  Fort  was  the  old  stone  church,  about  a  mile  north  of 
Schoharie  Court-house,  and  still  standing.  (See  Old  Stone  Fort.) 
The  settlement  of  Schoharie  was  burned  and  the  valley  devastated 
in  October,  1780,  but  the  three  forts  were  never  taken. 

FRASER,  GEN.  SIMON  (1729-77),  in  command  of  the  right 
wing  of  Burgoyne's  army  at  Saratoga,  was  mortally  wounded  in 
the  action  of  October  7  by  Tim  Murphy  (q.v.),  one  of  Morgan's 
riflemen,  in  obedience,  it  is  said,  to  special  instructions  from  that 
officer.  Lossing  says:  "  General  Fraser,  at  the  head  of  500  picked 
men,  was  the  directing  spirit  of  the  British  troops  in  action.  When 
the  lines  gave  way,  he  brought  order  out  of  confusion;  when  regi- 
ments began  to  waver,  he  infused  courage  into  them  by  voice  and 
example.  He  was  mounted  upon  a  splendid  iron-gray  gelding  and 
dressed  in  full  uniform  of  a  field  officer." 

Morgan,  seeing  how  much  the  fate  of  the  battle  depended  upon 
this  man,  gave  orders  to  his  sharpshooters  to  make  him  their  target, 
and  five  minutes  afterwards  he  fell  and  was  taken  off  the  field,  shot 
through  the  stomach.  At  sunset  the  following  day  he  was  buried, 
at  his  own  request,  in  a  redoubt  on  a  hill  overlooking  the  Hudson, 
in  full  sight  of  both  armies.  Contemporary  military  writers  affirm 
that  had  he  lived,  the  British  would  have  made  good  their  retreat 
into  Canada. 

FRONTENAC,  COUNT  DE,  Viceroy  of  New  France  from  1672 
to  1698,  administered  the  affairs  of  the  new  country  with  a  firmness 

[66] 


[66] 


THE  SUMMER  PARADISE  IN  HISTORY 

and  decision  which  were  largely  responsible  for  the  hold  which  the 
arms  of  France  had  gained  upon  the  northern  part  of  the  continent 
before  the  end  of  the  17th  century.  Throughout  its  entire  last 
quarter  his  mind  and  hand  were  behind  every  move  of  importance 
that  was  taken  by  the  French  in  the  historic  country  from  Montreal 
southward  to  Albany. 

FULTON'S  STEAMBOAT,  the  "Clermont,"  arrived  at  the  foot 

of  Madison  Avenue,  Albany,  September  5,  1807,  thus  completing  the 
first  steamboat  trip  of  any  length  ever  made  in  America,  and 
for  the  first  tune  establishing  the  system  of  steam  navigation 
as  a  practical  success. 

FOUR  BROTHER  ISLANDS  lie  in  Lake  Champlain  just  east 
of  WiUsborough  Point,  and  may  be  clearly  seen  from  the  car  windows 
as  the  train  rounds  the  rocky  and  picturesque  side  of  Willsborough 
Bay.  They  were  known  as  an  important  landmark  to  both  French 
and  English,  the  French  calling  them  by  the  more  poetic  name  of 
Isle  de  Quatre  Vents.  They  are  now  owned  by  a  New  York  gentle- 
man who  has  made  a  refuge  and  breeding  ground  of  them  for  the 
gulls  which  frequent  the  lake. 

FREDERICK,  HAROLD  (1856-98),  journalist  and  novelist, 
for  a  time  resided  in  Albany,  as  editor  of  the  Evening  Journal. 
His  "In  the  Valley,"  a  story  of  1777,  has  some  of  its  most  important 
scenes  in  that  city. 


/^ANSEVOORT  GEN.  PETER  (1749-1812),  a  native  of 
\J~  Albany,  for  twenty  days  successfully  defended  Fort  Schuyler, 
previously  called  Fort  Stanwix  (at  what  is  now  Rome,  N.  Y.), 
against  British  and  Indians  under  St.  Leger,  whose  co-operation 
with  Burgoyne  he  prevented.  (See  Burgoyne's  Campaign.)  His 
grandfather  in  1677  bought  the  land  on  which  Stanwix  Hall  in 
Albany  now  stands.  General  Peter,  who  in  early  life  also  served 
under  Montgomery  in  Canada,  died  in  active  command  at  the 
beginning  of  the  War  of  1812,  and  is  buried  in  the  Albany  Rural 
Cemetery.  A  station  on  the  Delaware  and  Hudson,  just  north  of 
Saratoga,  where  he  resided  for  many  years,  is  named  after  him. 

GATES,  GEN.  HORATIO,  to  whom  Burgoyne  surrendered  at 
Saratoga,  although  for  his  services  presented  by  Congress  with  a 
gold  medal,  does  not  stand  well  in  the  full  light  of  history.  It  has 

[67] 


THE  SUMMER  PARADISE  IN  HISTORY 

been  shown  that  he  intrigued  to  supersede  both  Schuyler  and 
Washington;  that  at  the  very  battle  of  which  he  was  nominally 
the  winner,  while  his  antagonist,  Burgoyne,  was  in  the  thickest  of 
the  fight,  receiving  three  bullets  through  his  clothes,  Gates  was 
two  miles  away  getting  the  wagon  trains  ready  for  a  run  in  case  of 
defeat;  and  that  the  laurels  worn  by  him  were  really  won  by  Morgan, 
Poor  and  Arnold.  (See  Battle  of  Saratoga.) 

GERTRUDE  OF  WYOMING,  a  poem  by  Thomas  Campbell 
(1777-1844),  the  English  poet,  has  for  its  subject  the  Wyoming 
Massacre  (q.v.).  Gertrude  was  the  daughter  of  Albert,  patriarch 
of  the  valley.  One  day  an  Indian  brought  to  Albert  a  lad  of  nine, 
named  Henry  Waldegrave,  and  told  the  old  man  that  he  had  prom- 
ised the  boy's  mother,  at  her  death,  to  place  her  son  under  his  care. 
The  lad  remained  at  Wyoming  three  years,  and  was  then  sent  to 
his  friends.  When  grown  to  manhood  he  returned  and  married 
Gertrude;  but  three  months  afterwards  the  massacre  took  place 
in  which  both  the  old  man  and  Gertrude  were  killed.  Henry  then 
joined  the  army  under  Washington. 

Campbell,  in  his  poem,  which  is  accompanied  with  many  notes, 
says  that  Brant  led  the  forces  who  perpetrated  the  massacre;  but 
this  was  explicitly  denied,  both  by  Brant  himself  and  by  his  biog- 
rapher, William  L.  Stone.  (See  Stone,  William  L.) 

GILLILAND,  WILLIAM,  was  one  of  the  most  remarkable 
persons  concerned  in  the  early  settlement  and  cultivation  of  the 
shores  of  Lake  Champlain,  as  distinguished  from  their  military 
conquest.  In  1764  he  purchased  several  large  tracts  of  land,  which 
had  been  granted  under  royal  authority  to  officers  and  soldiers 
who  had  served  in  the  Canadian  campaigns.  These  tracts  extended 
from  near  Split  Rock  to  north  of  the  Bouquet  River.  Here  he  estab- 
lished a  settlement,  and  from  then  until  the  Revolution  labored 
unceasingly  to  found  a  manorial  estate.  The  tide  of  the  Revolution, 
however,  destroyed  his  colony;  and  he  died  at  last,  after  having 
been  in  prison  for  years  in  New  York  City  for  debt,  and  subse- 
quently making  unsuccessful  efforts  to  re-establish  himself,  a  broken 
and  discouraged  old  man.  Nevertheless  many  of  the  names  along 
Lake  Champlain  commemorate  his  project — the  best  known  being 
Willsborough,  after  himself;  EUzabethtown,  named  after  his  wife; 
and  Bessboro,  an  early  name  for  Westport,  in  honor  of  his  daughter. 

GREAT  CARRYING  PLACE  was  the  short  interval  of  only 
eleven  miles  between  the  Hudson  at  Fort  Edward  and  the  forks  of 

[68] 


THE  SUMMER  PARADISE  IN  HISTORY 

Wood  Creek  at  Fort  Ann.  It  constituted  the  sole  break  of  con- 
sequence in  the  long  water  route  through  Lake  Champlain,  Wood 
Creek,  and  the  Hudson.  During  the  long  years  of  aboriginal  oc- 
cupation it  was  one  of  the  best-known  trails  in  the  east,  and  for  the 
same  strategic  reasons  which  made  it  the  highway  of  the  Indians 
it  has  been  used  ever  since  by  the  white  men  for  war  and  commerce. 
Colonel  Schuyler,  who  commanded  the  vanguard  of  Nicholson's 
Expedition  (q.  v.)  in  1709,  traversed  the  trail,  and  broadened  and 
improved  it  considerably.  Thereafter  it  alternately  fell  into  disuse 
and  was  reopened  as  the  contending  armies  of  France,  England  and 
the  colonies  surged  backward  and  forward.  Indeed,  it  has  been 
advanced  as  one  of  the  causes  for  the  failure  of  Burgoyne's  Campaign 
(q.  v.)  that  Maj.  Philip  Skene,  the  founder  of  Whitehall,  advised 
Burgoyne  to  advance  by  way  of  the  Great  Carrying  Place  instead 
of  Lake  George,  in  order  that  Skene  might  have  a  better  road  cut  for 
himself  to  the  southern  settlements.  The  smooth,  level  stretches 
of  the  Great  Carrying  Place  are  now  crossed  by  the  tracks  of  the 
Delaware  and  Hudson,  a  highway  of  trade  and  travel,  the  users  of 
which  are  little  concerned  with  the  fortunes  of  war,  save  as  they  are 
called  to  mind  by  the  historic  landmarks  which  line  the  route  from 
end  to  end. 

GREEN  MOUNTAIN  BOYS  was  the  name  given  to  soldiers  of 
Vermont  originally  organized  in  1770  by  Ethan  Allen  (q.v.)  to 
oppose  the  claims  of  New  York  State  to  Vermont  territory.  When 
hostilities  with  Great  Britain  began,  they  distinguished  themselves 
by  seizing  Fort  Ticonderoga,  Crown  Point  and  Skenesborough.  (See 
Whitehall.)  Thereupon  the  "Boys"  were  granted  by  Congress  the 
same  pay  as  soldiers  of  the  Continental  Army,  and  allowed  to  choose 
then:  own  officers.  For  a  while  they  were  practically  the  masters 
of  Lake  Champlain. 

GROWLER  AND  EAGLE,  two  sloops  under  the  command 
of  Lieut.  Sidney  Smith,  were  captured  by  the  British  in  a  severe 
engagement  in  the  Richelieu  River  on  June  3,  1813.  Receiving 
information  that  the  British  gunboats  were  making  sorties  out  of 
the  river  into  the  lower  end  of  the  lake  and  harassing  small  craft, 
Thomas  MacDonough,  then  a  lieutenant  in  the  United  States  Navy, 
in  command  of  operations  on  Lake  Champlain,  ordered  Lieutenant 
Smith  to  proceed  with  the  "Growler"  and  "Eagle"  to  the  vicinity 
of  the  Richelieu  to  attack  the  gunboats.  Smith  discovered  three  of 

[69] 


THE  SUMMER  PARADISE  IN  HISTORY 

the  British  on  the  morning  of  June  3d,  and  pursued  them  down 
the  Richelieu  until  he  came  within  sight  of  the  British  works  at 
Isle  aux  Noix.  He  then  turned  and  began  to  beat  back  against  a 
head-wind  and  an  adverse  current  into  the  open  lake. 

"As  soon  as  the  British  were  aware  of  the  advantages  these 
circumstances  gave  them,  three  of  their  row-galleys  came  out  from 
under  the  works  at  Isle  aux  Noix  and  opened  a  brisk  fire  upon  the 
sloops.  As  the  galleys  carried  long  twenty-fours,  while  the  largest 
guns  on  the  sloops  were  eighteens,  the  former  were  able  to  select 
their  own  distance,  nor  could  the  latter  come  to  close  quarters 
without  running  within  range  of  the  fire  of  the  batteries  on  the 
island.  To  render  the  situation  of  the  sloops  still  more  critical,  the 
British  now  lined  the  woods  on  each  side  of  the  river,  and  opened 
upon  them  with  musketry.  This  fire  was  returned  with  constant 
discharges  of  grape  and  canister,  and  in  this  manner  the  contest 
was  continued  for  several  hours,  with  gallantry  on  both  sides.  About 
four  hours  after  the  commencement  of  the  action,  a  shot  from  one 
of  the  galleys  struck  the  "Eagle"  under  her  starboard  quarter  and 
passed  out  on  the  other  side,  ripping  off  a  plank  under  water.  The 
sloop  went  down  almost  immediately,  but  fortunately  in  shoal  water, 
and  her  crew  were  taken  off  by  boats  sent  from  the  shore;  soon  after 
this  accident,  the  "Growler"  had  her  forestay  and  main-boom  shot 
away,  when  she  became  unmanageable  and  ran  ashore." — Palmer. 

The  British  repaired  the  "Growler"  and  "Eagle,"  changing  their 
names  to  the  "Finch"  and  "Chubb,"  and  they  subsequently  formed 
part  of  the  British  squadron  under  Downie  in  the  battle  of  Lake 
Champlain  (q.  v.),  where  they  were  so  badly  injured  that  both  vessels 
fell  into  the  hands  of  the  Americans. 


TJALF-WAY  BROOK,  at  Glens  Falls,  was  one  of  the  important 
A  JL  stopping-places  on  the  portage  from  the  Hudson  at  Fort  Edward 
to  the  head  of  Lake  George.  During  the  Colonial  and  Revolutionary 
Wars  there  were  frequent  fortifications  in  these  few  miles,  of  which 
the  one  at  Half-Way  Brook  was  the  most  important,  as  it  stood  about 
midway  between  Fort  Edward  and  Fort  William  Henry.  The  New 
York  State  Historical  Association  has  erected  a  large  bronze  tablet 
at  the  corner  of  Glen  Street  and  Glenwood  Avenue,  marking  Half- 
Way  Brook,  Fort  Amherst,  and  the  Seven  Mile  Post.  The  inscrip- 
tions on  this  tablet  are  as  follows: 

[70] 


THE  SUMMER  PARADISE  IN  HISTORY 

HALF-WAY  BROOK 

So  called  because  midway  between  Forts  Edward  and  William 
Henry.  From  1755  to  1780  it  was  the  scene  of  many  bloody 
skirmishes,  surprises  and  ambushes.  Here  the  French  and 
Indians  inflicted  two  horrible  massacres,  one  in  the  summer  of 
1756  and  the  other  in  July,  1758. 

FORT  AMHERST 

A  noted  military  post  midway  between  this  marker  and  the 
brickyard.  Its  site  was  known  locally  as  "The  Garrison 
Grounds."  The  location  was  used  as  a  fortified  camp,  1757- 
1758.  The  fort  was  built  in  1759.  It  was  occupied  by  the 
forces  of  Baron  Riedesel  in  the  Burgoyne  Campaign  of  1777. 
It  was  burned  in  1780  in  the  Carleton  Raid  at  the  time  of  the 
Northern  Invasion. 

THE  SEVEN-MILE  POST 

Was  a  blockhouse  with  stockaded  enclosure,  occupying  the 
rise  of  ground  north  of  the  Brook  and  west  of  the  road  from 
1755  to  Revolutionary  times.  During  that  period  it  was  one 
of  the  most  important  halting  places  in  North  America. 

HAMILTON,  ALEXANDER,  classed  by  many  as  the  greatest 
of  American  statesmen,  was  married  in  the  Schuyler  mansion, 
still  standing  at  the  head  of  Schuyler  Street,  Albany,  on  Dec.  4, 
1780,  to  Elizabeth  Schuyler,  the  daughter  of  Gen.  Philip  Schuyler. 
They  had  met  while  Lieutenant-Colonel  Hamilton,  then  on  the 
staff  of  General  Washington,  was  engaged  in  the  difficult  and  deli- 
cate task  of  obtaining  troops  from  General  Gates  after  the  Burgoyne 
campaign.  She  survived  her  husband's  murder,  at  the  hands  of 
Aaron  Burr,  for  half  a  century.  (See  Schuyler  Family.) 

HARBOR  ISLAND  MASSACRE.  On  the  evening  of  July  25, 
1757,  a  scouting  party  of  three  or  four  hundred  English,  under  Col. 
John  Parker,  left  Fort  William  Henry  and  proceeded  about  half 
way  down  Lake  George  to  what  are  now  called  Harbor  Islands, 
where  the  next  morning  at  dawn  they  were  set  upon  by  Indians. 
One  hundred  and  thirty-one  English  were  killed  outright,  twelve 
only  escaped,  and  the  remainder  were  taken  prisoners.  Six  days 
after,  Montcalm  and  his  army,  on  their  way  up  the  lake  to  the 
capture  and  massacre  of  Fort  William  Henry,  saw  the  boats  and 
mutilated  bodies  floating  on  the  water. 

HARTE,  BRET,  was  born  in  Albany,  August  25,  1839.  His 
father,  a  teacher  in  Albany  Female  Academy,  died  leaving  little 
property;  and  when  the  future  novelist  was  only  fifteen,  he  went 
with  his  mother  to  California,  of  which  he  eventually  became  the 
first  and  best  known  literary  exponent. 

[71] 


THE  SUMMER  PARADISE  IN  HISTORY 

HENDRICK,  "KING,"  a  Mohawk  chief,  was  killed  near  the 
Williams  Monument  (q.v.),  September  8,  1755.  (See  Battle  of 
Lake  George.)  He  was  very  eloquent,  and  had  great  influence  over 
his  people.  On  the  morning  of  the  engagement  in  which  he  was 
killed  the  old  chief  made  a  speech  to  his  warriors,  which  was  so 
animated  and  his  gestures  so  expressive  that  Massachusetts 
officers  listened  in  admiration,  although  they  could  not  understand 
a  word.  He  rode  at  the  head  of  the  column;  but  almost  at  the 
first  onslaught  his  horse  was  shot,  and  the  old  man  was  killed  with 
a  tayonet  as  he  attempted  to  rise.  Hendrick  was  a  great  debater, 
and  at  the  Congress  of  1754  (q.  v.),  where  part  of  the  business  was 
to  conclude  a  treaty  with  the  Six  Nations,  he  made  a  famous  speech, 
upbraiding  the  British  generals  for  overcautious  tardiness  and 
lack  of  military  spirit.  A  statue  of  himself  and  Gen.  Sir  William 
Johnson,  his  close  friend,  surmounts  the  Lake  George  Battle  Monu- 
ment, a  short  distance  south  of  Fort  William  Henry  Hotel. 

HERKIMER'S  ORDER,  GENERAL,  for  troops  to  go  to  Fort 
Edward,  has  thus  been  handed  down,  indicating  that  the  gallant 
hero  of  Oriskany  could  much  better  fight  the  English  than  he  could 
spell  their  language: 

"Ser  you  will  orter  yur  bodellyen  do  merchs  Immiedietlih  do 
ford  edward  weid  for  das  brofiesen  and  amonieschen  fied  for 
on  bettell.  Dis  yu  will  disben  yur  berrell  from  frind  Nicolas 
herchheimer.  To  Camel  pieder  Bellinger,  ad  de  plats,  ochdober 
18,  1776." 

(Sir:  You  will  order  your  battalion  to  march  immediately 
to  Fort  Edward,  with  four  days'  provision  and  ammunition 
fit  for  one  battle.  This  you  will  disobey  at  your  peril.  From 
your  friend,  Nicholas  Herschheimer.  To  Colonel  Peter  Bel- 
linger, at  the  Flats,  October  18,  1776.) 

HIAWATHA,  "the  chief,  of  whom  the  Great  Spirit  was  an 
ancestor,  was  the  founder  of  the  Confederacy  of  the  Five  Nations. 
He  devoted  his  long  life  to  the  good  of  his  people,  and  finally  was 
borne  in  the  flesh  to  the  Happy  Hunting  Grounds.  The  writer  is 
indebted  to  As-que-sent-wah,  a  member  of  the  Onondaga  tribe,  an 
authority  upon  Indian  local  lore,  and  well  known  among  white  men 
as  Edward  Winslow  Paige,  for  an  account  of  the  tradition  which 
fixes  the  home  of  Hiawatha  at  Schonowe  (Schenectady).  Mr.  Paige 
owns  the  lot  at  the  west  end  of  Union  Street  on  the  banks  of  the 
Brunekill,  upon  which  the  castle  and  residence  stood.  He  points  out 
to  visitors  existing  traces  of  Indian  occupation." — Judson  S.  fMndon, 
in  "  Historic  Towns  of  the  Middle  States." 

[72] 


THE  SUMMER  PARADISE  IN  HISTORY 

HONESDALE,  PA.,  was  named  after  Philip  Hone,  Mayor  of 
New  York  in  1825-26.  He  was  also  first  president  of  the  Delaware 
and  Hudson.  His  bust  stands  in  the  hall  of  the  New  York  Mercantile 
Library,  of  which  he  was  one  of  the  founders. 

HOWE,  GEORGE  AUGUSTUS  LORD  VISCOUNT,  a  brigadier- 
general  attached  to  the  staff  of  General  Abercrombie  (see  Aber- 
crombie's  Expedition),  holds  one  of  the  most  unique  positions  in  the 
history  of  the  Colonial  wars.  His  was  the  master  mind  of  that  ill- 
starred  enterprise,  and  in  his  death  the  British  Army  received  a 
handicap  from  which  it  did  not  recover  until  Lord  Jeffrey  Amherst 
assumed  command  in  1759.  (See  Fort  Ticonderoga.)  In  Howe  alone, 
of  all  the  British  officers  of  rank  during  the  French  and  Indian  War,  do 
we  find  any  appreciation  of  the  Colonial  troops  and  of  the  methods  of 
border  warfare.  Howe  had  accompanied  Rogers  and  Stark  upon 
scouting  expeditions,  leaving  behind  his  gaudy  uniform  of  a  British 
officer  and  wearing  the  less  conspicuous  dress  of  the  Rangers.  Con- 
trary to  the  universal  custom  of  the  officers  of  the  regular  army,  he 
gave  up  those  luxuries  with  which  they  endeavored  to  surround 
themselves  in  the  midst  of  the  wilderness,  in  spite  of  difficulties  of 
transportation.  He  adapted  himself  to  the  conditions  of  the  country, 
and  worked  at  all  times  to  have  the  regular  troops  conform  to  those 
conditions  and  co-operate  with  the  provincials.  By  both  sides  he 
was  respected  and  loved  for  his  ability  and  personality,  and  by  the 
Colonial  troops  he  was  especially  idolized  as  the  only  officer  who 
realized  their  value. 

Lord  Howe  fell  at  the  first  fire  in  Abercrombie's  advance  against 
Ticonderoga,  July  6,  1758.  The  place  of  his  burial  has  been  much 
discussed  by  historians.  The  view  commonly  accepted  is  that  his 
body  was  conveyed  to  Albany  by  his  young  friend,  Gen.  Philip 
Schuyler,  and  buried  in  old  St.  Peter's  Church,  that  stood  in  the 
middle  of  State  Street.  Forty-four  years  later,  when  that  edifice 
was  demolished,  his  remains  were  supposedly  deposited  under  the 
chancel  of  the  second  St.  Peter's.  In  1859  this  building  gave  way 
to  the  present  structure,  and  a  coffin,  believed  to  be  Lord  Howe's, 
was  then  enclosed  within  a  brick  wall  that  forms  part  of  the  founda- 
tion of  the  vestibule.  Another  version  is  that  he  was  buried  near 
the  field  of  battle  at  Ticonderoga.  Color  is  lent  to  this  by  the  find- 
ing of  what  is  known  as  the  Lord  Howe  Stone,  which  was  discovered 
by  Peter  DuShane,  a  laborer,  while  digging  a  trench  in  Ticonderoga 
Village,  October  3,  1889,  and  now  preserved  in  the  Black  Watch 
Memorial  (q.  v.).  The  inscription  on  it  reads:  "MEM  OF  LO 

173] 


THE  SUMMER  PARADISE  IN  HISTORY 

HOWE  KILLED  TROUT  BROOK."  This  has  led  many  to  believe 
that  Lord  Howe  was  buried  at  Ticonderoga.  Bones  found  interred 
with  the  Lord  Howe  Stone  are  now  buried  in  Academy  Park,  at 
Ticonderoga  Village.  (See  Boulder  to  the  Heroes  of  the  Four 
Nations.) 

HUDSON  RIVER  was  "The  Great  North  River  of  the  New 
Netherlands,  by  some  called  the  Manhattes,  from  the  people  who 
dwelt  near  its  mouth;  by  others  also  Rio  de  Montagne,  or  River  of 
the  Mountain;  by  some  also  Nassau;  but  by  our  own  countrymen 
generally  the  Great  River." — De  Laet:  Nieuwe  Werelt,  Amsterdam, 
1625.  Its  highest  sources  are  found  in  Indian  Pass,  in  the  heart 
of  the  Great  Peaks,  and  in  Lake  Tear  of  the  Clouds,  a  tiny  body  of 
water  nestling  in  a  hollow  almost  at  the  summit  of  Mt.  Marcy. 
In  its  southward  journey  it  receives  nearly  every  water  flowing  on 
the  eastern  and  southern  slope  of  the  Adirondacks,  until  below 
Glens  Falls  it  has  swelled  to  form  an  important  link  in  that  wonderful 
water  route  from  New  York  to  Montreal.  From  its  mouth  north- 
ward it  offered  during  the  early  struggles  of  the  Revolution  a  strategic 
belt,  which,  if  held  in  connection  with  the  historic  highway  at  the 
north,  would  cut  the  united  Colonies  in  two  and  end  the  rebellion. 
The  plan  of  the  British  to  control  the  Hudson  was  practically  con- 
summated, but  their  reverse  came  along  the  bitterly  contested 
northern  lakes.  B 

TNDIAN  OCCUPATION.  Though  history  and  tradition  hold  no 
JL  record  of  any  permanent  Indian  settlements  along  Lake  Cham- 
plain,  there  are,  nevertheless,  abundant  evidences  to  be  found  that 
at  times  far  antedating  the  advent  of  Champlain  in  1609  the  Indians 
for  brief  periods  occupied  camp  sites  beside  the  lake  and  along  the 
shores  of  some  of  the  streams  which  flow  into  it.  These  evidences 
consist  of  the  remains  of  stone  implements,  bits  of  pottery  and  pipes, 
arrow-heads,  and  spear-heads.  Few  graves  have  been  found,  and 
there  are  no  earthworks  or  mounds.  A  few  copper  spear-heads, 
hatchets  and  gouges  have  been  discovered,  but  these  were  all 
surface  or  field  finds,  no  copper  relics  having  been  obtained  from 
any  of  the  camp  sites. 

Farther  south,  along  the  Susquehanna  Division  of  the  Delaware 
and  Hudson,  chiefly  in  Albany,  Schoharie  and  Otsego  counties,  the 
Indian  occupation  was  more  permanent.  A  large  number  of  sites 
has  been  discovered  there,  some  with  earthworks  and  mounds,  and 
many  of  them  have  yielded  abundant  relics. 

[74] 


THE  SUMMER  PARADISE  IN  HISTORY 

Relics  are  still  to  be  found  by  careful  search  at  many  of  the  places 
where  camps  were  located.  These  sites,  as  recorded  by  Beauchamp 
in  "Aboriginal  Occupation  of  New  York,"  are  as  follows: 

CLINTON  COUNTY 

1.  At  the  north  end  of  Upper  Chateaugay  Lake,  on  the  east 

side  of  the  outlet. 

2.  On  the  west  shore  of  Lake  Champlain,  north  of  Rouse's 

Point. 

3.  At  Coopers ville,  in  the  town  of  Champlain  and  east  of 

Chazy  River. 

4.  Two  sites  on  the  lake  shore  at  the  commencement  and  end 

of  Point  au  Fer. 

5.  Four  sites  on  the  lake  shore  in  the  town  of  Champlain, 

from  King's  Bay  to  the  south  line  of  the  town. 

6.  On  the  lake  shore  near  the  north  line  of  the  town  of 

Chazy,  north  of  the  mouth  of  Little  Chazy  River. 

7.  Two  sites  on  the  south  shore  of  Monty  Bay,  in  Beekman- 

town. 

8.  On  the  north  shore  of  Tredwell  Bay,  in  Beekmantown. 

9.  A  site  north  of  East  Beekmantown. 

10.  A  site  west  of  Wwclmff  Pond,  and  two  between  it  and 

Lake  Champlain,  near  the  north  line  of  the  town  of 
Plattsburg. 

11.  Four  sites  at  the  head  of  Cumberland  Bay  in  the  town  of 

Plattsburg. 

12.  A  site  about  half  way  along  the  outside  shore  of  Cum- 

berland Head. 

13.  One  in  the  city  of  Plattsburg  on  the  shore  of  Cumberland 

Bay,  north  of  the  Saranac  River. 

14.  One  in  the  town  of  Plattsburg,  a  mile  east  of  Morrisonville, 

and  on  the  northeast  side  of  Saranac  River. 

15.  One  south  of  the  Salmon  River  at  Fredenburg  Falls. 

16.  On  the  shore  of  Lake  Champlain,  in  the  town  of  Platts- 

burg, is  a  site  south  of  a  small  creek  and  north  of  Bluff 
Point.  There  are  also  two  sites  between  Bluff  Point 
and  a  small  stream  on  the  south. 

17.  A  site  is  on  the  lake  shore  at  the  mouth  of  Salmon  River, 

close  to  the  south  line  of  the  town  of  Plattsburg. 

18.  A  site  on  the  west  shore  of  Valcour  Island,  south  of  a 

projecting  point. 

19.  A  site  in  the  town  of  Saranac,  near  the  east  line.    It  is 

south  of  the  Saranac  River,  and  one  and  one-half  miles 
southwest  of  Elsinore. 

20.  In  the  town  of  Schuyler  Falls,  one  and  one-half  miles 

southwest  of  Morrisonville. 

[75] 


THE  SUMMER  PARADISE  IN  HISTORY 

21.  On  the  Salmon  River,  near  the  south  line  of  the  town  of 

Schuyler  Falls,  a  mile  east  of  the  village  of  Schuyler 
Falls. 

22.  On  the  lake  shore,  near  Valcour  in  Peru. 

23.  In  the  town  of  Peru,  near  the  mouth  of  Little  Ausable  River. 

24.  Three  between  the  Little  Ausable  River  and  the  Ausable. 

25.  On  the  end  of  Ausable  Point  in  Peru. 

26.  On  the  Little  Ausable,  half  a  mile  north  of  Harkness,  near 

the  north  line  of  the  town  of  Ausable. 

27.  Southeast  of  Ferrona  in  the  town  of  Ausable,  north  of  the 

river  and  east  of  the  railroad.  Another  south  of  Arnold 
Hill,  west  of  Ferrona. 

28.  There  is  a  workshop,  a  half  an  acre  in  extent,  a  mile  north 

of  the  Little  Ausable,  and  west  of  Arnold  Hill. 

ESSEX  COUNTY 

Beauchamp  states  that  there  were  no  important  sites  in  Essex 
county,  but  many  traces  of  early  and  late  passage.  He  mentions 
but  three  locations,  with  his  authority  for  them. 

1.  The  vestiges  of  Indian  occupation  in  North  Elba  and  the 

territory  around  the  interior  lakes  leave  no  doubt  that 
at  some  former  time  they  congregated  there  in  great 
numbers. — Watson:  History  of  Essex  County,  A  sup- 
posed recent  village  has  been  reported  at  North  Elba. 
— Smith:  History  of  Essex  County. 

2.  Arrow-heads,  etc.,  were  abundant  at  Elizabethtown. — 

Smith:  History  of  Essex  County. 

3.  Large  arrow-heads,  pestles,  mortars,  chisels,  gouges,  knives, 

axes  and  pottery  occur  in  the  north  part  of  Ticonderoga, 
"along  the  creek,  the  flats  of  Trout  Brook,  and  espe- 
cially near  the  rapids  at  the  head  of  the  outlet."  Recent 
articles  were  also  abundant. — Smith:  History  of  Essex 
County. 

WARREN  COUNTY 

Warren  county  was  mainly  a  land  of  passage  with  many  camps 
and  few  villages. 

1.  Toward  the  head  of  Lake  George,  on  Dunham's  Bay,  was 

a  small  camp,  and  another  was  located  on  Van  Wormer's 
Bay,  though  with  but  few  relics.  Most  of  these  sites  are 
mentioned  in  the  History  of  the  Town  of  Queensbury, 
by  A.  W.  Holden. 

2.  Abundant  relics  occur  at  "Old  Bill  Harris's  Camp,"  Harri- 

sena.  There  are  several  small  sites  along  the  creek  lead- 
ing to  Dunham's  Bay. 

[76] 


THE  SUMMER  PARADISE  IN  HISTORY 

3.  Several  small  sites  extending  over  a  square  mile,  and 

including  Round  Pond  and  a  small  creek  near  it,  m  the 
town  of  Queensbury.  Early  relica  and  an  unexplored 
mound  in  the  creek  bottom. 

4.  Several  sites  in  an  area  of  one  and  one-half  miles  east 

along  the  outlet  of  Glen  Lake,  in  Queensbury  One 
small  site  on  the  south  side  of  the  lake. 

5.  Large  site  on  high  ground,  beside  the  inlet  of  Glen  Lake. 

6.  A  large  and  early  village  site  with  some  smaller  ones  along 

the  brook  flowing  into  Glen  Lake. 

7.  Two  sites,  historic  and  prehistoric,  covering  about  six 

acres  and  having  many  relics,  are  located  on  both  sides 
of  the  big  bend  at  the  rifts  of  the  Hudson  River.  Frag- 
ments of  pottery  are  scattered  all  over  the  county  on 
both  sides  of  the  Hudson. 

SARATOGA  COUNTY 

1.  A  cemetery  is  reported  on  the  south  bank  of  the  Sacandaga, 

in  the  town  of  Edinburg,  but  is  really  in  the  town  of 
Day. — French:  Gazetteer  of  New  York. 

2.  Near  the  mill  pond  on  Snookkill  in  Wilton  were  early  camps 

or  a  village. — French:  Gazetteer^  of  New  York. 

3.  There  was  a  site  at  Saratoga  Village  with  early  relics. 

4.  Early  relics  are  found  on  the  camp  sites  on  the  flats  at 

Saratoga  Lake. — Stone:  Reminiscences  of  Saratoga. 

5.  South  of  Stafford's  bridge  on  the  south  side  of  the  outlet  was 

a  grave  with  pottery. — Stone:  Reminiscences  of  Saratoga. 

6.  A  supposed  pottery  kiln  was  south  of  Fish  Creek  between 

the  bridge  and  the  "Old  Milligan  Place." — Stone: 
Reminiscences  of  Saratoga. 

7.  There  were  camp  sites  along  Fish  Creek  from  Saratoga 

Lake  to  Schuylerville.  One  very  large  one  is  near  the 
mouth. 

8.  There  was  a  large  camp  four  miles  from  the  mouth  of 

Fish  Creek. 

9.  A  recent  camp  or  village  site  was  located  on  "Arrowhead 

Farm."  This  is  on  a  hill  west  of  Saratoga  Lake,  a  mile 
south  of  the  north  end. 

10.  There  is  a  large  and  long  occupied  site  at  Round  Lake,  with 

early  relics.    There  are  smaller  sites  on  the  inlet. 

11.  There  was  a  cache  of  flints  in  Charlton  on  the  east  side  of 

Consalus  Vlaie.  Pottery  is  found  on  most  sites.  Arrow- 
heads occur  on  all  plowed  land  from  Bemis  Heights  to 
Wilber's  Basin. 

WASHINGTON  COUNTY 

Like  Warren  county  this  was  a  land  of  passage,  and  many  scattered 
implements  have  been  found.    The  known  sites  are  as  follows: 
1.    Site  east  of  Cossayuna  Lake  with  fine  relics. 
[77] 


THE  SUMMER  PARADISE  IN  HISTORY 

2.  A  similar  small  site  near  Cambridge. 

3.  Several  interesting  sites  near  Smith's  Basin,  south  of  Fort 

Ann,  with  much  debris  and  some  large  caches  of  chipped 
implements. 

ALBANY  COUNTY 

Trails  led  from  the  Hudson  to  the  western  streams,  and  along 
these  scattered  relics  are  found,  but  there  were  no  villages  of  impor- 
tance. In  the  State  Museum  are  arrow-heads  from  Bethlehem, 
Guilderland,  Loudonville  and  Watervliet,  and  ceremonial  objects 
from  Albany  and  Bethlehem.  The  principal  trail  was  from  Sche- 
nectady  to  Albany,  and  surface  finds  have  been  made  in  the  sand- 
fields  between  Schenectady  and  Karners. 

1.  An  Iroquois  castle  was  on  an  island  at  the  mouth  of  the 

Mohawk,  as  shown  on  Van  Rensselaer's  map  of  1630. 

2.  A  large  camp  site  is  near  the  arsenal  at  Watervliet,  one 

hundred  rods  from  the  river.  Thick  spears,  arrow-heads, 
scrapers,  net  sinkers  and  a  few  ceremonial  stones  are 
found. 

3.  There  was  much  cleared  land  at  Albany.    Father  Jogues 

wrote  in  1664  that  the  Dutch  "found  some  pieces  of 
ground  all  ready,  which  the  savages  had  formerly 
prepared." 

4.  The  Mohawks  afterward  had  a  fishing  place  at  Cohoes, 

according  to  De  Vries. 

SCHOHARIE  COUNTY 

1.  A  stone-heap  near  Sloansville  was  noticed  by  Rev.  Gideon 

Hawley,  in  1753.  Every  Indian  cast  a  stone  on  it  in 
passing  and  his  guide  did  the  same.  The  heap  was  four 
rods  long,  one  or  two  wide,  and  from  ten  to  fifteen  feet 
high.  It  has  been  obliterated. — Simms:  History  of 
Schoharie  County. 

2.  A  mound  on  Shingler's  land,  near  the  cemetery  south  of 

Sloansville,  was  on  the  east  side  of  the  road  to  Central 
Bridge.  A  workshop  extended  into  the  cemetery.  There 
is  also  a  recent  Indian  cemetery  on  the  same  side,  on 
Albert  L.  Fisher's  farm.  This  has  headstones.  A  vil- 
lage site  and  workshop  are  on  the  east  toward  the  creek. 

3.  There  was  a  workshop  at  the  base  of  the  lower  Helderberg 

group,  fifty  rods  west  of  the  bridge  over  Schoharie  Creek. 
In  this  are  perfect  and  unfinished  knives  and  arrow  and 
spear  heads. — Smithsonian  Report,  1879.  There  was 
also  a  ^  workshop  north  and  west  of  the  depot  at 
Schoharie,  and  another  west  of  the  creek  and  fair  grounds. 

4.  At  Grovenor  Corners  was  a  recent  camp  by  a  ledge  of 

rocks. — Smithsonian  Report,  1879. 

[78] 


THE  SUMMER  PARADISE  IN  HISTORY 

5.  A  square  stockade  was  built  for  the  Indians  on  Vrooman's 

land  by  Sir  William  Johnson.  It  had  two  blockhouses 
at  opposite  corners.  There  is  a  burial  place  here.  A 
village  and  stockade  were  east  of  the  creek  and  opposite 
the  next  mentioned.  The  Schoharies  had  a  village  and 
stockade  west  of  the  creek  on  Henry  Vrooman's  land. — 
Simms:  History  ofSchoharie  County. 

6.  Another  village  and  cemetery  was  on  the  Snyder  farm, 

several  miles  south  of  the  fort  mentioned  in  No.  5. — 
Simms:  History  ofSchoharie  County. 

7.  There  was  a  recent  cemetery  on  the  river  near  Fultonham. 

— Simms:  History  ofSchoharie  County. 

8.  A  Mohegan  village  was  at  the  mouth  of  Little  Schoharie 

Creek,  in  Middleburg.  This  had  a  stockade,  and  all 
four  forts  were  within  four  miles  of  the  court-house. — 
Simms:  History  ofSchoharie  County. 

OTSEGO  COUNTY 

1.  The  Iroquois  had  little  to  dp  with  Otsego  county  until 

recent  times,  and  the  few  sites  are  of  minor  importance . 
Most  of  those  about  Richfield  Springs  are  taken  from 
Richfield  Springs  and  Vicinity,  by  W.  T.  Bailey. 

An  oblong  mound,  often  visited  by  the  Oneidas,  was 
reputed  to  be  the  grave  of  a  chief  and  was  in  Mr.  Hop- 
kinson's  orchard  in  that  town.  A  recent  cemetery  was 
on  a  ridge  opposite  the  Lake  House.  Three  skeletons 
were  found  near  that  house  and  a  cache  of  flint  articles 
near  the  lake.  Several  sites  on  Oak  Ridge,  west  of  the 
lake,  half  a  mile  from  the  head,  had  early  articles.  In 
grading  near  the  bridge  east  of  this  ridge,  skeletons  were 
found  with  flat  stones  over  the  faces. — Bailey. 

2.  Francis  W.  Halsey  says  that  the  first  settlers  in  Coopers- 

town  found  arrow-heads  and  stone  axes  in  great  abun- 
dance. This  is  the  statement  in  J.  F.  Cooper's  Chronicles 
of  Cooperstown.  There  is  a  supposed  sepulchral  mound 
at  that  place,  on  the  east  side  of  the  Susquehanna. 

3.  Several  camp  sites  with  early  relics  have  been  reported  at 

the  northwest  end  of  Otsego  Lake. 

4.  An  Indian  mound  was  discovered  at  Oneonta. 

5.  Mr.  Halsey  says  that  on  the  Susquehanna,  west  of  the 

mouth  of  the  Charlotte  River,  was  an  Indian  orchard, 
and  a  mound  on  an  adjacent  island  was  called  the  grave 
of  Kagatinga,  a  chief.  Vetal  Winn  reports  an  early  site  of 
three  or  four  acres  in  the  angle  made  by  the  south  side 
of  the  Charlotte  River  with  the  Susquehanna.  Pottery 
is  found  there.  Articles  from  this  spot  were  in  the  fine 
collection  destroyed  in  the  burning  of  the  Oneonta 
Normal  School. 

[791 


THE  SUMMER  PARADISE  IN  HISTORY 

6.  The  ancient  Unadilla  was  burned  in  1778,  as  a  result  of 

Sullivan's  Expedition  (q.  v.),  and  was  at  the  junction 
of  the  Unadilla  with  the  Susquehanna,  on  both  sides  of 
the  river. 

7.  It  is  stated  upon  very  good  authority  that  an  ancient 

earthwork  once  existed  near  Unadilla. — Sguier:  An- 
tiquities of  New  York.  It  is  also  stated  that  an  Indian 
monument  of  a  conical  form,  ten  feet  high,  once  stood 
in  this  town. — Barber:  Historical  Collections  of  New 
York.  Mr.  Halsey  also  mentions  this,  a  mile  below 
Unadilla,  on  the  north  side  of  the  river,  as  a  heap  of 
stones  on  which  the  Indiana  cast  a  stone  as  they  passed. 

8.  Halsey  says  that  there  was  also  a  mound  in  which  relics 

were  found,  but  which  was  probably  natural,  on  the 
north  side  of  the  Susquehanna. 

9.  A  rather  large  village  with  an  apple  orchard  was  at  the 

mouth  of  Otego  Creek.  Arrow-heads  and  sinkers  are 
found. 

10.  A  large  site  between  Schenevus  Creek  and  the  Susquehanna 

River,  reported  by  T.  L.  Bishop,  is  thought  by  him  to 
have  been  Towanoendalough,  the  first  Mohawk  town  on 
the  Susquehanna,  visited  by  Rev.  Gideon  Hawley  in 
1753.  It  is  near,  and  a  little  east  of  Colliersville.  The 
prehistoric  relics  far  outnumber  the  recent,  so  that 
there  were  at  least  two  occupations.  It  is  on  the  north 
side  of  Schenevus  Creek  and  covers  from  ten  to  fifteen 
acres.  On  the  west  side  of  the  river  arrow-heads, 
hammer-stones  and  flint  chips  occur. 

11.  A  camp  site  is  two  miles  north  of  Colliersville  and  east  of 

the  river.  Triangular  arrow-heads  and  broken  and  per- 
fect earthenware  are  found. 

12.  A  recent  site  is  one-fourth  mile  south  of  Portlandville, 

east  of  the  river.    It  has  rude  and  early  implements. 

13.  A  small  site  three  miles  north  of  Portlandville,  east  of  the 

river,  has  also  early  relics. 

14.  Early  relics  are  scattered  about  near  the  confluence  of 

Cherry  Valley  Creek  and  the  Susquehanna,  a  mile  east 
of  Milford. 

15.  Early  relics  are  also  found  on  a  camping  ground  of  five 

acres,  a  mile  north  of  Milford,  west  of  the  river. 

16.  Arrow-heads  are  found  on  camps  one-half  mile   below 

Phoenix  Mills,  east  of  the  river. 

17.  Niskavuna  Rock  is  a  large  boulder  two  miles  north  of 

Middlefield,  on  the  west  side  of  Cherry  Valley  Creek. 
It  is  a  reputed  rendezvous,  with  some  relics. 

18.  An  early  camp  is  on  the  Coats  farm,  one-half  mile  south  of 

Roseboom,  on  the  west  side  of  Cherry  Valley  Creek. 

[80] 


HIGH  ROCK  SPRING  IN  1845 


SARATOGA  AS  IT  IS  TODAY 


THE  SUMMER  PARADISE  IN  HISTORY 

19.  Camp  site  with  abundant  arrow-heads  at  Schenevus  Lake, 

a  mile  southwest  of  Schenevus. 

20.  A  small  camp  site  lies  a  mile  west  of  Maryland,  north  of 

the  creek. 

21.  A  camp  is  located  on  the  west  side  of  the  river,  two  miles 

below  Colliersville.    Rude  implements  and  an  engraved 
banner  stone  have  been  found. 

22.  A  large  camp,  three  miles  above  Oneonta,  on  the  west  side, 

was  an  early  site.    /  similar  camp  is  opposite.    These 
are  above  the  camp  at  No.  5. 

23.  An  early  and  extensive  camp  is  found  two  miles  below 

Oneonta,  north  of  the  river.   Arrow-heads  and  pestles 
occur  as  on  most  local  early  sites. 

24.  Perfect  pottery  has  been  found  near  Otsego,  on  the  east 

bank  of  Otsdawa  Creek. 

25.  A  large  camp  has  been  located  two  miles  north  of  Otsego, 

east  of  and  near  the  creek. 

26.  There  is  a  camp  on  the  Matlin  farm,  one  and  one-half  miles 

north  of  Garrettsville,  east  of  Butternut  Creek,  which 
contains  early  relics. 

27.  A  camp  with  early  relics  on  the  west  side  of  Butternut 

Creek,  two  miles  south  of  Morris,  is  on  Jerome  Lull's 
farm.    Pestles  are  found  on  nearly  all  the  above  sites. 

INDIAN  PASS  is  cut  deep  in  the  chain  of  the  Great  Peaks, 
between  Mt.  Mclntyre  and  Wallface.  It  is  a  tremendous  chasm, 
upward  of  a  mile  in  length,  from  the  bottom  of  whose  gorge  the  per- 
pendicular side  of  Wallface  towers  a  thousand  feet  into  the  blue  of 
the  sky.  From  its  northern  side  the  water  of  the  Ausable  takes  its 
start  for  the  St.  Lawrence.  But  a  few  minutes'  walk  on  its  southern 
slope  are  found  the  first  faint  trickles  of  the  Hudson.  They  flow 
downward  along  the  bottom  of  the  gorge,  for  the  most  part  out  of 
sight  beneath  the  mass  of  titanic  boulders  that  have  been  hurled 
from  the  mountain-sides  or  dropped  there  by  the  grinding  glaciers 
that  once  covered  the  country.  Here  and  there  one  may  reach  them 
by  climbing  into  dark  and  chilly  caverns.  They  are  icy  cold  to  the 
hand  and  clear  as  crystal.  To  the  superstitious  mind  of  the  Iroquois, 
Indian  Pass  appealed  with  tremendous  force.  No  warrior  dared  to  be 
caught  there  after  dark,  for  it  was  the  home  of  the  Go-nos-gwah, 
the  stonish  giants  of  Iroquois  fable,  who  lived  upon  human  flesh. 
There  also  was  Da-yoh-je-ga-go,  "The  Place  Where  the  Storm  Clouds 
Meet  in  Battle  with  the  Great  Serpents."  Another  designation  was 
He-no-da-wa-da,  "Pass  of  the  Thunders."  In  spite  of  its  terrors,  the 
Pass  was  largely  used  by  the  Indians,  as  it  offered  ready  transit 

[81] 


THE  SUMMER  PARADISE  IN  HISTORY 

between  favorite  sections  of  their  hunting  ground.  Today  it  is  one 
of  the  most  beautiful  and  unspoiled  sections  of  the  Adirondack 
forest,  and  an  objective  for  wilderness  travelers  up  the  valley 
of  the  Hudson  from  North  Creek  or  southward  from  Lake  Placid. 

INDIAN  TRAILS.  Two  trails  led  from  Lake  Champlain  into 
the  Mohawk  Valley.  One  started  at  Ticonderoga  and  passed  through 
Lake  George.  Thence  it  ran  across  country,  passing  the  Hudson 
not  far  west  of  Glens  Falls,  and  proceeded  through  the  towns  of 
Moreau  and  Wilton,  turning  west  through  the  pass  south  of  Mt. 
McGregor,  at  Stile's  Tavern,  over  near  Lake  Desolation.  It  con- 
tinued southwest  through  Galway,  and  thence  into  the  Mohawk 
Valley,  a  little  west  of  Amsterdam.  This  was  called  the  Kaya- 
drosseras  Trail. 

The  other  started  at  Whitehall,  and  led  thence  to  Fort  Edward, 
down  the  Hudson  to  Schuylerville,  up  Fish  Creek  to  Saratoga 
Lake,  and  then  up  the  Kayadrosseras  River  to  Mourningkill.  From 
there  was  a  carry  to  Ballston  Lake,  and  another  to  Eel  Creek, 
down  which  the  route  ran  to  the  Mohawk.  This  was  called  the 
Saratoga  Trail. 

Everywhere  through  the  Adirondack  Mountains  ran  other  trails, 
some  of  them  scarcely  perceptible  from  little  use,  while  others  were 
worn  deep  into  the  soft  covering  of  the  forest  floor.  They  followed 
the  banks  of  streams  or  cut  through  the  wilderness  from  lake  to 
lake.  Probably  the  most  important  was  that  through  Indian  Pass, 
connecting,  as  it  did,  the  whole  territory  of  the  upper  Hudson 
with  the  beautiful  Keene  Valley.  Some  of  these  trails  have  become 
modern  highways  and  State  roads.  Others  are  the  logging  roads  of 
lumbermen,  following  lines  of  least  resistance  and  ending  usually 
upon  some  waterway.  Even  the  hunting  trails  are  still  kept  open 
in  some  places,  their  twists  and  turns  marked  for  the  uninitiated 
by  blazes  upon  the  trees.  The  abrasions  of  steel-studded  campers' 
shoes  make  them  easier  to  follow  than  of  old. 

IRON  DAM.  The  scene  of  one  of  the  earliest  attempts  to 
wrest  fortunes  from  the  heart  of  the  Adirondack  wilderness  is 
located  at  the  foot  of  Indian  Pass,  between  Lake  Henderson  and 
Lake  Sanford.  In  1826  an  old  Indian  of  the  Saint  Francis  tribe, 
named  Sabele,  approached  David  Henderson,  one  of  the  proprietors 
of  an  iron-works  at  North  Elba,  on  the  Ausable,  and  showed  him 
a  lump  of  high-grade  iron  ore,  saying  that  he  obtained  it  where 
water  ran  over  an  iron  dam.  He  thereupon  took  Mr.  Henderson 

[82] 


THE  SUMMER  PARADISE  IN  HISTORY 

and  a  party  to  a  point  just  below  Lake  Henderson,  where  the  outlet 
of  the  lake  ran  over  a  dam  of  rich  iron  ore  on  its  way  to  Lake  Sanford. 
Mr.  Henderson  and  his  associates  subsequently  erected  extensive 
iron-works  at  the  spot.  The  difficulties  of  transportation,  however, 
fifty  miles  through  the  wilderness  to  Lake  Champlain,  were  too 
great,  and  upon  the  death  of  Mr.  Henderson,  the  moving  spirit, 
who  accidently  shot  himself  at  Calamity  Pond  on  the  shoulder 
of  Mount  Marcy  some  years  later,  the  enterprise  was  abandoned, 
though  the  property  is  still  held  by  the  Mclntyre  Iron  Works. 
Now  the  ruined  furnaces  lift  their  chimneys  above  the  tree-tops, 
objects  of  wonder  and  surprise  to  every  traveler  in  that  remote 
section  of  the  woods. 

IROQUOIS,  or  Five  (afterward  Six)  Nations,  consisted  of  the 
Mohawks,  Oneidas,  Onondagas,  Cayugas  and  Senecas,  to  which  in 
1715  were  added  the  Tuscaroras  from  the  south.  Under  their 
traditional  leader,  Hiawatha,  these  tribes  formed  a  league  which 
exists  among  their  remnants  to  the  present  day.  They  occupied 
central  New  York,  and  were  surrounded  on  all  sides  by  tribes 
chiefly  of  Algonquin  (q.v.)  stock,  against  whom  they  waged  con- 
tinual war.  In  the  French  and  English  wars  they  were  allied  with 
the  English.  At  the  outbreak  of  the  Revolution,  while  the  league, 
as  such,  declared  for  neutrality,  each  tribe  was  allowed  to  act  for 
itself.  With  the  exception  of  the  Oneidas,  and  part  of  the  Tuscaroras, 
they  sided  against  the  Americans.  The  Mohawks  and  Cayugas 
followed  their  great  chief,  Brant,  to  Canada,  where  they  settled. 
(See  Unadilla.) 

ISLE  LAC  DU  ST.  SACREMENT,  the  largest  of  the  Mother 
Bunch  group  and  the  most  northern  of  the  large  islands  in  Lake 
George,  has  been  delivered  into  the  custody  of  the  New  York  State 
Historical  Association  by  the  State  of  New  York.  Originally  known 
by  another  name,  it  now  perpetuates  the  original  designation  which 
Father  Isaac  Jogues  (q.v.)  applied  to  Lake  George  in  1646.  The 
Association  has  planned  untimately  to  erect  a  suitable  memorial  to 
the  martyred  missionary,  who  was  the  first  white  man  to  behold  the 
mountain-framed  loveliness  of  the  "Lake-That-Shuts-Itself-In." 

ISLE  LA  MOTTE,  bulking  impressively  in  the  northern  waters 
of  Lake  Champlain,  just  west  of  the  Hero  Islands,  has  a  record  as 
thrilling  with  vital  human  interest  as  one  will  find  anywhere  in  the 
pages  of  our  national  history.  Lying  squarely  beside  the  highway 
through  the  Gate  of  the  Country,  it  witnessed  every  passing  expedi- 

[83] 


THE  SUMMER  PARADISE  IN  HISTORY 

tion,  and  received  most  of  them  upon  its  shores  for  longer  or  shorter 
periods.  Its  strategic  and  most  frequented  spot  was  Sandy  Point, 
which  projects  into  the  lake  near  the  northwestern  corner  of  the 
island.  Here  was  located  Fort  St.  Anne  (q.  v.),  and  here  the  Jesuits 
erected  the  Shrine  of  St.  Anne  and  celebrated  mass  in  1666.  Thus 
Isle  La  Motte  was  the  seat  of  the  first  organized  Christian  effort  in 
the  Champlain  Valley.  Isle  La  Motte  was  "  the  convenient  stopping- 
place  for  military  and  naval  expeditions  as  well  as  a  port  for  pas- 
senger steamers,  for  many  years  running  through  the  lake,  and  has 
been  visited  by  civil,  military  and  naval  officers  of  three  nations  and 
such  distinguished  personages  as  Peter  Kalm  in  1749,  and  quite 
likely  by  Charles  Dickens  in  1842,  and  later  by  President  William 
McKinley  and  Col.  Theodore  Roosevelt  while  Vice-President,  and 
many  others.  Viceroy  de  Tracy,  M.  de  Chazy,  Bishop  de  Laval  and 
others  were  here  at  various  tunes  in  the  Seventeenth  Century.  Capt. 
John  Schuyler,  on  his  return  from  his  military  expedition  to  Canada, 
spent  here  the  night  of  August  24,  1690.  Maj.  Peter  Schuyler 
in  his  journal  describes  his  trip  through  the  lake  with  his  flotilla  of 
canoes  manned  by  266  whites  and  Indians  in  the  year  1691,  and  his 
advance  to  Tort  La  Motte  several  years  deserted'  on  the  26th  of 
August,  where  he  remained  over  night.  Capt.  John  Schuyler 
stopped  near  this  fort  on  his  mission  to  Canada  in  September,  1698. 
This  island  was  included  in  the  grant  by  the  Governor  of  Canada, 
M.  de  Beauharnois,  to  Sieur  Pean,  major  of  the  town  and  castle  of 
Quebec,  on  April  10,  1733.  It  was  also  included  in  the  French 
eeignory  granted  to  Sieur  Bedou,  Counsellor  in  the  Superior  Council 
of  Quebec  in  1752.  Canadians  were  attacked  on  this  point  (Sandy 
Point)  by  the  savages  in  1694  or  1695,  and  French  settlers  were  put 
to  death  here  in  1746  and  others  were  taken  prisoners  by  the  Indians. 
We  know  not  the  extent  of  the  martyrdom  nor  of  the  savage  persecu- 
tion that  has  been  suffered  on  this  soil  which  has  been  made  sacred 
by  the  shedding  of  human  blood. 

"In  1775  Gen.  Philip  Schuyler  and  Brig.-Gen.  Richard  Mont- 
gomery met  here  on  their  way  to  Quebec,  where  the  brave 
Montgomery  afterward  lost  his  life.  In  1776  Arnold's  fleet  lay  at 
anchor  off  this  island,  from  August  8th  to  August  19th,  from  which 
he  made  an  official  report. 

"Over  at  yonder  Point  au  Fer,  within  view  of  this  Point,  was 
stationed,  in  1775,  a  large  body  of  Americans,  and  that  point  was 
fortified  by  General  Sullivan  in  1776.  It  fell  into  the  possession  of 
General  Burgoyne  in  1777,  and  was  occupied  by  the  British  until 

[841 


THE  SUMMER  PARADISE  IN  HISTORY 

1788,  five  years  after  the  Treaty  of  Peace.  Farther  to  the  north  may 
be  seen  Windmill  Point,  where  was  held  an  International  Council 
in  1766  to  consider  the  location  of  the  boundary  line  between  New 
York  and  Quebec  and  to  hear  the  arguments  of  the  French  claimants 
to  seignories  on  Lake  Champlain.  The  boundary  was  fixed  in  1768. 
There  it  was  that  Arnold  on  August  6, 1776,  encountered  Indiana  in 
the  British  service. 

"Isle  La  Motte  was  settled  in  1785  by  Ebenezer  Hyde,  Enoch 
Hall  and  William  Blanchard,  and  organized  into  a  township  in  1790, 
a  year  before  Vermont  was  admitted  into  the  Union  and  while  it  was 
an  independent  republic.  This  island  was  occupied  by  the  British 
in  the  War  of  1812;  and  Captain  Pring  erected  a  battery  of  three 
long  eighteen-pounders  on  the  west  shore  on  September  4,  1814, 
'to  cover  the  landing  of  the  supplies  for  the  troops.' "  — Henry  Way- 
land  Hitt,  at  Champlain  Tercentenary  Celebration. 

• 

TOGUES,  ISAAC  (1607-1646),  the  discoverer  of  Lake  George, 
J  was  a  French  Jesuit  missionary,  whose  recorded  devotion  to 
the  cause  for  which  he  labored  has  never  been  excelled  in  the  history 
of  martyrdom.  Coming  to  Canada,  he  was  sent  to  labor  among  the 
Hurons.  While  traveling  with  them,  they  fell  into  an  ambush  and 
were  captured  by  the  Mohawks.  Father  Jogues  could  have  escaped, 
but  surrendered  in  order  to  be  near  the  wounded  and  dying.  As 
the  chief  Frenchman  in  the  party,  he  was  subjected  to  terrible 
tortures,  his  finger-nails  being  torn  out  by  the  roots,  and  other  out- 
rages being  heaped  upon  him.  The  Iroquois  with  their  captives  then 
started  for  the  villages  on  the  Mohawk,  and  at  an  island  in  Cole  Bay, 
just  below  Westport,  on  the  western  side  of  Lake  Champlain,  en- 
countered another  large  war  party.  There,  on  what  is  now  known  as 
Jogues's  Island,  the  captiveswere  compelled  to  run  the  gauntlet  and  to 
furnish  other  savage  and  painful  amusement  for  the  Iroquois. 
Running  the  gauntlet  he  characterized  as  "a  narrow  road  to  Para- 
dise." This  was  repeated  several  times  in  the  villages  along  the 
Mohawk  River.  Once,  in  the  midst  of  his  agony,  Jogues  baptised 
two  candidates  with  drops  of  dew  on  a  cornstalk  thrown  him  by  an 
Indian.  Frequently  he  received  confessions  of  his  converts  as  they 
were  burning  at  the  stake.  Finally,  after  much  suffering  and  many 
indignities,  he  succeeded  in  escaping  through  the  efforts  of  the 
Dutch  settlers  at  Fort  Orange,  some  of  whom  risked  their  lives  in 
his  behalf.  He  returned  to  France,  but  could  not  control  his  desire 
to  renew  his  labors;  and,  having  received  a  special  dispensation 

[85] 


THE  SUMMER  PARADISE  IN  HISTORY 

from  Pope  Innocent  XI  to  celebrate  the  mass  with  mutilated  hands, 
came  back  to  Montreal.  It  was  while  on  a  mission  to  the  Mohawks 
that  he  passed  through  Lake  George  again,  naming  it  Lac  du  Saint 
Sacrement,  and  stopping  on  the  way  at  Fort  Orange  (Albany)  to 
thank  the  Dutchmen  who  had  succored  him.  This  time  he  was 
kindly  received  by  the  Mohawks;  but  on  his  return  in  the  following 
October  (1646)  he  was  charged  with  being  a  sorcerer,  the  Indians 
attributing  a  scourge  of  caterpillars  and  an  epidemic  to  a  chest 
of  vestments  he  had  left  with  them.  They  began  his  execution 
by  slicing  flesh  from  his  arms  and  back,  a  torture  that  he  bore 
with  such  calm  remonstrance  as  to  have  some  effect.  While  a 
council  was  being  held  to  decide  his  fate,  he  was  invited  to  supper, 
when  in  the  darkness  an  Indian  struck  him  lifeless  at  a  single  blow. 
His  faithful  companion,  a  young  Frenchman  named  Lalande,  was 
also  killed.  Their  heads  were  fixed  on  a  palisade  and  their  bodies 
thrown  into  the  Mohawk.  Since  his  death  miracles  have  been 
attributed  to  Father  Jogues,  and  the  site  of  his  martyrdom  having 
been  identified,  a  chapel  was  erected  there,  at  Auriesville,  on  the 
Mohawk,  in  1884. 

JOHNSON'S  EXPEDITION.  Following  the  treaty  of  Aix-la- 
Chapelle  in  1748,  the  French  proceeded  systematically  to  strengthen 
their  position  on  the  frontier  of  New  France.  Alarmed  by  these 
activities,  Colonial  troops  from  several  of  the  provinces  were  dis- 
patched against  Fort  St.  Frederic  at  Crown  Point  in  the  summer 
of  1755.  They  were  commanded  by  Gen.  Sir  William  Johnson 
(q.v.).  Massachusetts  had  most  men  enlisted  in  the  venture,  but 
out  of  policy  it  was  thought  wise  to  appoint  a  commander  from  some 
other  colony,  and  Johnson  of  New  York  was  selected.  At  that 
time  Johnson  had  never  seen  service  and  knew  little  about  war, 
but  he  was  highly  esteemed  by  the  Five  Nations,  many  of  whom 
accompanied  him  on  this  expedition. 

"In  July  (1755),"  says  Parkman,  "about  three  thousand  pro- 
vincials were  encamped  near  Albany,  some  on  the  flats  above  the 
town,  and  some  on  the  meadows  below.  Hither,  too,  came  a  swarm 
of  Johnson's  Mohawks — warriors,  squaws  and  children.  They 
adorned  the  general's  face  with  war-paint,  and  he  danced  the  war- 
dance;  then  with  his  sword  he  cut  the  first  slice  from  the  ox  that 
had  been  roasted  whole  for  then*  entertainment.  'I  shall  be  glad,' 
wrote  the  surgeon  of  a  New  England  regiment,  'if  they  fight  as 
eagerly  as  they  eat  and  drink.'" 

[86] 


THE  SUMMER  PARADISE  IN  HISTORY 

Johnson's  second  in  command  was  Gen.  Phinehaa  Lyman  of 
Connecticut,  who  proceeded  up  the  Hudson  to  the  present  site  of 
Fort  Edward,  where  he  erected  defences,  which  he  named  Fort 
Lyman.  There  Johnson  joined  him  in  August  and  advanced  to 
Lake  George,  leaving  Lyman  with  a  part  of  the  troops  at  Fort 
Lyman.  Meanwhile  Baron  Dieskau  had  come  up  Lake  Champlain 
from  Montreal  with  a  considerable  force,  landing  at  the  further 
end  of  the  Great  Carrying  Place  on  South  Bay  in  Lake  Champlain. 
From  there  he  advanced  towards  Fort  Lyman,  but  at  the  last  moment 
changed  his  plans  and  directed  his  course  to  the  head  of  Lake 
George,  where  Johnson  had  encamped.  Learning  of  Dieskau's 
advance  from  South  Bay  towards  Fort  Lyman,  Johnson  dispatched 
Col.  Ephraim  Williams  with  a  detachment,  and  the  Mohawks 
under  King  Hendrick,  to  the  aid  of  the  fort.  They  had  scarcely 
left  the  head  of  Lake  George,  however,  when  they  were  ambushed 
by  Dieskau,  and  the  encounter  known  as  the  Bloody  Morning  Scout 
(q.  v.)  took  place.  Other  conflicts  occurred  throughout  the  day, 
the  whole  series  of  engagements  being  known  as  the  Battle  of  Lake 
George  (q.  v.).  The  French  forces  were  badly  beaten,  and  retired, 
leaving  Dieskau  wounded  and  a  prisoner  in  Johnson's  camp.  With- 
out following  up  his  advantages,  Johnson  devoted  the  remainder 
of  the  summer  to  building  Fort  William  Henry,  thus  giving  the 
French  an  opportunity  to  strengthen  their  defences  at  Crown 
Point  and  to  begin  the  construction  of  Fort  Ticonderoga.  Johnson 
was  succeeded  in  command  by  Gen.  John  Winslow.  Thus  his  expe- 
dition had  served  but  to  draw  closer  the  lines  of  French  and  English, 
in  preparation  for  the  campaigns  of  Montcalm,  Abercrombie  and 
Amherst,  which  followed  during  the  four  succeeding  years. 

It  was  upon  his  arrival  at  the  site  of  Fort  William  Henry  that 
Johnson  changed  the  name  of  Lac  du  Saint  Sacrement  to  Lake 
George,  "not  only  in  honor  of  His  Majesty,  but  to  ascertain  his 
undoubted  dominion  here." 

JOHNSON,  SIR  WILLIAM,  who  commanded  the  English 
colonists  in  an  expedition  against  Crown  Point  (see  Johnson's 
Expedition)  in  1755,  was  one  of  the  most  picturesque  characters 
of  the  period  preceding  the  Revolution.  He  was  born  in  Ireland 
in  1715,  coming  to  America  in  1738  as  superintendent  of  the  property 
of  his  uncle,  Sir  Peter  Warren,  located  in  the  Mohawk  Valley. 

[87] 


THE  SUMMER  PARADISE  IN  HISTORY 

"Dealing  honestly  with  the  Indians  and  learning  their  language, 
he  became  a  great  favorite  with  them.  He  conformed  to  their 
manners,  and,  in  time,  took  Mary,  a  sister  of  Brant,  the  famous 
Mohawk  chief,  to  his  home  as  hia  wife.  When  the  French  and 
Indian  War  broke  out  Johnson  was  made  sole  Superintendent  of 
Indian  Affairs,  and  his  great  influence  kept  the  Six  Nations  steadily 
from  any  favoring  of  the  French.  He  kept  the  frontier  from  injury 
until  the  treaty  of  Aix-la-Chapelle  (1748).  In  1750  he  was  a  mem- 
ber of  the  Provincial  Council.  He  withdrew  from  his  position 
of  Superintendent  of  Indian  Affairs  in  1753,  and  was  a  member  of 
the  Convention  at  Albany  in  1754.  He  also  attended  grand  councils 
of  the  Indians,  and  was  adopted  into  the  Mohawk  tribe  and  made 
a  sachem."  The  year  following  his  expedition  against  Crown  Point 
he  was  knighted,  "and  the  king  gave  him  the  appointment  of  Super- 
intendent of  Indian  Affairs  in  the  North;  he  was  also  made  a 
Colonial  agent.  He  continued  in  the  military  service  during  the 
remainder  of  the  war,  and  was  rewarded  by  bis  king  with  the  gift 
of  one  hundred  thousand  acres  of  land  north  of  the  Mohawk  River, 
which  was  known  as  Kingsland,  or  the  Royal  Grant.  Johnson 
first  introduced  sheep  and  blooded  horses  into  the  Mohawk  Valley. 
Sir  William  Johnson  married  a  German  girl,  by  whom  he  had  a 
son  and  two  daughters;  also  eight  children  by  Mary  (or  Mollie) 
Brant,  who  lived  with  him  until  his  death.  Sir  William  lived  in 
baronial  style  and  exercised  great  hospitality." — Lossing's  "Cyclo- 
paedia of  United  States  History." 

The  Indians  in  particular  were  recipients  of  his  generosity.  They 
were  constantly  feasted  at  his  residence,  and  he  frequently  attended 
their  pow-wows  and  celebrations,  where  he  joined  in  their  dances, 
took  part  in  their  gluttonous  orgies,  and  conducted  himself  so 
thoroughly  in  Indian  fashion  that  he  earned  and  held  their  very 
highest  admiration. 

JTJMEL,  MADAME  (1769-1865),  as  she  was  most  widely  known, 
was  for  some  tune  a  conspicuous  resident  of  Saratoga  Springs. 
Bora  at  sea,  her  mother  dying  at  the  time,  she  was  adopted  by 
Mrs.  Thompson,  a  Newport  lady.  She  eloped  at  seventeen  to 
many  a  British  officer,  Col.  Peter  Croix.  After  many  imprudences 
and  indiscretions  with  distinguished  men  in  New  York  and  else- 
where, on  widowhood  she  married  Stephen  Jumel,  a  wealthy 
French  wine  merchant.  Removing  to  Paris,  she  became  a  leader 
of  fashion  under  the  patronage  of  Lafayette,  spent  a  great  part 

[88] 


THE  SUMMER  PARADISE  IN  HISTORY 

of  the  Jumel  fortune,  and  returning  to  the  United  States  regained 
as  much  as  she  had  lost.  After  Jumel's  death  she  renewed  a  former 
acquaintance  with  Aaron  Burr,  whom  she  took  for  her  third  hus- 
band, when  he  was  seventy-eight.  But  they  soon  separated,  although 
they  were  never  divorced.  This  remarkable  woman  lacked  only 
four  years  of  a  century  when  she  died  in  retirement  in  New  York 
City.  The  house  that  she  made  famous  there,  The  Jumel  Mansion, 
hi  the  upper  part  of  the  city,  is  now  maintained  as  an  historical 
museum. 


LAKE  CHAMPLAIN,  the  largest  body  of  fresh  water  in  the 
United  States,  aside  from  the  Great  Lakes  and  Lake  Okechobee 
in  Florida,  is  a  hundred  and  eighteen  miles  long,  from  Whitehall,  at 
its  south  extremity,  to  the  northern  end  of  Missisquoi  Bay.  It  is 
over  twelve  miles  wide  in  its  broadest  part,  from  the  mouth  of  the 
Ausable  to  Mallett's  Bay,  above  Burlington,  and  its  average  width 
is  a  little  over  four  miles.  With  the  beginning  of  aboriginal  occupa- 
tion of  the  country,  Lake  Champlain  assumed  paramount  importance 
both  for  settlement  and  as  a  highway  of  war.  At  the  tune  of  Cham- 
plain's  visit  in  1609,  the  latter  use  predominated  to  such  an  extent 
that  it  was  known  among  the  Iroquois  as  Can-i-a-de-ri  Gua-run-te, 
"Lake  That  Is  the  Gate  of  the  Country,"  since  it  opened  to  them 
the  entire  territory  of  their  old  enemies,  the  Algonquins,  of  the 
north.  Thereafter,  for  two  hundred  years,  it  was  the  gate  through 
which  savage  hordes  and  organized  armies  surged  and  resurged, 
intent  upon  blood  and  conquest. 

"Standing  upon  Tahawus,"  says  Benson  J.  Lossing,  "it  required 
little  imagination  to  behold  the  stately  procession  of  historic  men 
and  events  passing  through  that  open  door.  First,  in  dim  shadows, 
were  the  dusky  warriors  of  the  ante-Columbian  period,  darting 
swiftly  through  in  their  bark  canoes,  intent  on  blood  and  plunder. 
Then  came  Champlain  with  guns  and  sabers  to  aid  the  Hurons 
against  the  Iroquois;  then  the  French  and  Indian  allies,  led  by 
Marin,  passing  swiftly  through  that  door  and  sweeping  with  terrible 
force  down  the  Hudson  to  smite  the  Dutch  and  English  settlers  at 
Saratoga.  Again  came  French  and  Indian  warriors,  led  by  Mont- 
calm  and  Dieskau,  to  drive  the  English  from  that  door  and  secure  it 
for  the  house  of  Bourbon.  A  little  later  Burgoyne  rushed  through 
that  door,  driving  Americans  southward  like  chaff  before  the  wind, 
as  far  as  Saratoga.  And  lastly  came  another  British  force,  Sir 

[89] 


THE  SUMMER  PARADISE  IN  HISTORY 


TWO  OF  THE  EARLIEST  STEAMERS  ON 
LAKE  CHAMPLAIN 


THE  "PHOENIX,"  LAUNCHED  IN  1815 


THE  "GENERAL  GREENE,"  LAUNCHED  IN  1825 


[90] 


THE  SUMMER  PARADISE  IN  HISTORY 

George  Prevost  at  their  head,  to  take  possession  of  that  door,  only 
to  be  turned  back  at  its  northern  threshold." 

Since  then,  the  Great  Recorder  of  the  Days 
Thousands  has  scrolled  upon  his  golden  book; 

Yet  still  a  sheet  of  shimmering  chrysoprase 

The  great  lake  spreads  for  whomsoe'er  may  look. 

Behind  the  peaks  that  panoply  the  west 

Still  burn  the  sunsets  like  a  mighty  forge; 

Still,  with  its  voice  of  wandering  unrest, 

The  swift  Ausable  rushes  through  its  gorge. 

Slope  capping  slope,  the  awakening  east  along 

Vermont's  broad  ranges  show  their  emerald  dye; 

And  still,  their  meadows  opulent  with  song 
And  glad  with  grain,  the  Hero  Islands  lie. 

Across  the  water,  as  it  breaks  or  broods, 

^  In  twilight  purple,  or  in  dawning  gold, 
Majestic  from  their  airy  altitudes 

Mansfield  and  White  Face  signal  as  of  old. 

For  howsoe'er  man's  genius  bares  or  drapes, 

Or  cleaves  or  curbs  by  frowning  height  or  shore, 

Nature's  sequestered  elemental  shapes 

Preserve  their  primal  grandeur  evermore! 

Grandeur  and  beauty! — here  the  twain  combine, 
Clothing  the  landscape  with  a  varied  veil; 

And  while  before  our  eyes  their  splendors  shine, 

Let  the  grave  Muse  of  History  breathe  her  tale! 

— Clinton  Scollard,  at  Champlain  Tercentenary  Celebration. 

LAKE  GEORGE,  the  most  beautiful  lake  in  America,  is  also 
one  of  the  most  interesting  historically.  Father  Isaac  Jogues  (q.  v.), 
the  Jesuit  missionary  and  martyr,  passed  through  it  in  1646  while 
on  a  mission  of  peace  from  the  French  in  Canada  to  the  Mohawks, 
and  having  entered  the  north  end  on  the  eve  of  the  festival  of  Corpus 
Christi  gave  it  the  name  of  Lac  du  St.  Sacrement.  In  1775  Gen.  Sir 
William  Johnson  changed  the  name  to  Lake  George,  in  honor  of  the 
English  King,  George  II.  Cooper,  with  doubtful  Indian  authority, 
renamed  it  Horicon,  but  outside  of  his  fiction  this  designation  was 
not  adopted.  By  the  Iroquois  it  was  called  An-di-a-ta-roc-te, 
"There  Where  The  Lake  Is  Shut  In,"  in  reference  to  its  mountain- 
bordered  shores. 

The  fact  that  its  thirty-two  miles  of  smiling  loveliness  formed  an 
important  section  of  the  great  waterway  between  the  English 
possessions  on  the  south  and  the  French  on  the  north  explains  the 
location  of  the  sanguinary  events  that  took  place  in  its  vicinity 

[91J 


THE  SUMMER  PARADISE  IN  HISTORY 

during  the  French  and  Indian  War.  Every  mile  of  its  mountain-sides 
have  echoed  the  merciless  whoop  of  savages,  and  over  its  cool  bosom 
glittering  armies  have  passed,  to  return  crushed  by  defeat  or  flushed 
with  victory.  Today  its  procession  of  vacationists  far  outnumber 
the  armies  of  the  past. 

LAKE  GEORGE  BATTLE  GROUND  PARK  comprises  the 
land  immediately  surrounding  the  Lake  George  Battle  Monument, 
and  includes  the  ruins  of  old  Fort  George.  It  was  set  aside  as  a 
public  park  by  the  Legislature  of  the  State  of  New  York,  and  is  in 
the  custody  of  the  New  York  State  Historical  Association.  The 
association  has  laid  a  walk  to  the  Battle  Monument,  and  has  cleared 
brush  and  opened  paths  in  the  park,  thus  making  this  old  fighting 
and  camping  ground  easily  accessible  to  the  public. 

• 

MACDONOUGH  NATIONAL  MILITARY  PARK.  Im- 
mediately following  the  Battle  of  Lake  Champlain  (q.  v.) 
and  the  Battle  of  Plattsburg  (q.  v.),  on  September  11,  1814,  a 
hospital  was  established  on  Crab  Island,  about  a  mile  from  the  main- 
land at  Bluff  Point,  to  which  the  soldiers  and  sailors  wounded  in 
both  engagements  were  taken.  Both  the  British  and  American 
dead  were  buried  on  this  island,  with  the  exception  of  the  officers, 
the  latter  being  interred  in  the  Plattsburg  cemetery.  (See  Downie, 
Capt.  George.)  The  island  was  recently  converted  into  a  National 
Military  Park,  and  a  monument  has  been  erected  to  commemorate 
the  land  and  naval  engagements  of  September  11,  1814,  and  the 
battle  between  Benedict  Arnold's  fleet  and  the  British  in  1776. 
(See  Battle  of  Valcour.)  The  shaft  is  plainly  visible  from  the 
windows  of  the  trains  just  south  of  Plattsburg,  from  the  steamers 
of  the  Champlain  Transportation  Company,  and  from  the  porch  of 
Hotel  Champlain. 

McCREA,  JANE.  In  the  Union  Cemetery,  between  Fort  Edward 
and  Sandy  Hill,  on  a  spot  near  the  entrance,  marked  by  a  plain 
marble  stone  six  feet  high,  repose  the  remains  of  Jane  McCrea,  whose 
tragic  fate  has  not  only  been  a  subject  of  many  a  poem,  song  and 
romance,  but,  in  the  opinion  of  grave  historians,  had  immense  in- 
fluence upon  the  determination  of  national  events.  Although  the 
accounts  have  always  been  varied  and  contradictory,  the  facts 
appear  to  be  as  follows: 

In  the  summer  of  1777,  Jane  was  living  with  her  brother  near 
Fort  Edward,  her  father,  a  clergyman,  being  dead.  She  was  beauti- 

[92] 


THE  SUMMER  PARADISE  IN  HISTORY 

ful,  accomplished  and  specially  loved  for  her  sweetness  of  dispo- 
sition. She  is  described  as  a  handsome  blonde,  of  large  stature, 
finely  formed,  with  red-gold  hair,  which,  when  unbound,  trailed 
upon  the  ground.  Her  lover,  David  Jones,  was  an  officer  in  Bur- 
goyne'a  army  (see  Burgoyne's  Campaign),  encamped  four  miles 
distant.  To  her  he  sent  a  party  of  Indians,  under  Duluth,  a  half- 
breed,  to  escort  her  to  the  British  lines,  where  they  were  to  be 
married  by  the  chaplain.  Meantime  another  party  of  Indians, 
also  from  the  British  camp,  had  captured  her  at  the  house  where 
she  was  waiting.  The  two  parties  met,  and  there  was  a  dispute  as  to 
which  should  claim  her,  hi  the  midst  of  which  Le  Loup,  the  other 
leader,  shot  her  through  the  heart,  and  taking  her  scalp,  carried  it 
to  the  British  camp,  where  the  trophy  was  recognized  by  the  length 
and  beauty  of  the  hair.  The  next  day  her  body  was  recovered  by 
her  brother  and  buried  in  the  camp-ground  of  the  American  forces. 

The  story  of  her  death  aroused  the  surrounding  country  much 
as  the  Battle  of  Lexington  aroused  New  England.  Her  name  was 
passed  as  a  note  of  alarm  along  the  Hudson  and  through  the  moun- 
tains of  Vermont,  causing  volunteers  to  assemble  against  Burgoyne 
as  nothing  else  had  done.  Burgoyne  himself ,  shocked  at  the  barbarity 
of  his  savage  allies,  reproved  them  so  severely  that  many  left  his 
service.  Thus  the  martyrdom  of  Jane  McCrea  contributed  in  no 
small  degree  to  his  immediate  defeat  and  surrender  and  to  the 
beginning  of  the  end  of  the  struggle  for  American  Independence. 

The  murder  was  committed  July  27,  1777.  On  April  23,  1822, 
the  remains  were  removed  to  the  Fort  Edward  burial-ground,  and  in 
1852  to  the  spot  where  they  now  repose  under  the  following  in- 
scription: "Here  rest  the  remains  of  Jane  McCrea,  age  17,  made 
captive  and  murdered  by  a  band  of  Indians,  while  on  a  visit  to  a 
relative  in  the  neighborhood,  A.  D.,  1777.  To  commemorate  one  of 
the  most  thrilling  incidents  in  the  annals  of  the  Revolution,  to  do 
justice  to  the  fame  of  the  gallant  British  officer  to  whom  she  was 
affianced,  and  as  a  simple  tribute  to  the  memory  of  the  departed, 
this  stone  is  erected  by  her  niece,  Sarah  Hannah  Payne,  A.  D.,  1852." 

MASONIC  LODGEHOUSE,  FIRST,  hi  America,  stood  on  the 
northwest  corner  of  Lodge  Street  and  Maiden  Lane,  Albany.  The 
corner-stone  was  laid  May  12,  1768.  The  site  is  now  occupied  by 
the  Masonic  Temple. 

MILLS,  COL.  JOHN  (1782-1813),  the  organizer  of  the  Albany 
Republican  Artillery,  fell  at  the  head  of  his  regiment  while  repulsing 

[93] 


THE  SUMMER  PARADISE  IN  HISTORY 

the  British  at  Sackett's  Harbor,  May  29,  1813.  In  1843,  his  body 
was  removed  from  Watertown,  where  at  first  it  was  buried,  to 
Albany,  permission  having  been  granted  by  the  legislature  to 
deposit  the  remains  in  Capitol  Park.  Its  transfer  was  accom- 
plished amid  appropriate  military  honors  at  Sackett's  Harbor, 
Oswego,  Syracuse,  Schenectady,  Troy  and  Albany,  the  military, 
masonic  and  civic  parade  in  the  latter  city  being  the  largest  that 
had  ever  been  seen  there.  For  nearly  forty  years  the  grave  in 
Capitol  Park  was  left  unmarked,  neglected,  not  to  say  dishonored ; 
but  on  May  30,  1883,  with  another  great  parade,  the  dust  of  the 
old  hero  was  taken  to  the  Rural  Cemetery,  where  the  Mills  Memorial, 
a  bronze  eagle  perched  on  thirty  feet  of  towering  granite,  stands  as 
a  suitable  memorial  to  his  services. 

MONTCALM  DE  ST.  VERAN,  St.  Joseph,  Marquis  de,  was 
born  at  the  Chateau  Candian,  near  Nismes,  France,  February  28, 
1712,  and  died  at  Quebec  September  14,  1759.  He  entered  the 
French  army  when  only  fourteen  years  of  age,  when  his  unusual 
ability  won  him  rapid  promotion.  In  1756  he  was  given  command 
of  the  troops  in  Canada,  where  he  labored  unceasingly,  and  at 
first  with  considerable  success,  for  the  more  stable  foundation  of 
French  authority  in  the  New  World.  The  tide  of  English  deter- 
mination, however,  had  reached  its  flood,  and  the  troops  of  France 
retreated  before  it  at  Ticonderoga  in  1759.  A  few  months  later, 
on  September  13,  1759,  Montcalm  was  mortally  wounded  in  the 
desperate  assault  of  Wolfe  upon  Quebec  and  died  the  following 
day.  "I  am  happy,"  he  said,  "that  I  shall  not  live  to  see  the  sur- 
render of  Quebec."  He  was  buried  under  the  floor  of  the  chapel 
of  the  Ursuline  Convent  in  Quebec,  where  a  shell  from  Wolfe's 
victorious  besiegers  had  made  a  cavity  which  had  been  hollowed 
into  a  grave.  "In  his  funeral,"  said  Parkman,  "was  the  funeral 
of  New  France." 

MONTGOMERY'S  EXPEDITION.  One  of  the  first  plans  of 
the  colonists  in  the  Revolution  was  the  capture  of  Canada,  and  in 
accordance  with  this  scheme  an  expedition  was  fitted  out  under 
Gen.  Philip  Schuyler  in  1775.  Schuyler  was  taken  ill,  however, 
and  the  command  devolved  upon  Gen.  Richard  Montgomery, 
an  officer  of  long  experience  in  the  French  and  Indian  and  other 
English  wars.  Proceeding  down  Lake  Champlain,  he  captured 
Fort  Chambly  on  October  18,  and  laid  siege  to  St.  Johns  on  the 
Richelieu  River.  Carleton,  with  a  thousand  troops,  advanced  to 

[94] 


THE  SUMMER  PARADISE  IN  HISTORY 

the  relief  of  St.  Johns,  but  was  defeated  by  Col.  Seth  Warner  and  a 
force  of  three  hundred  men,  mostly  Green  Mountain  Boys,  who 
had  taken  up  a  position  on  the  bank  of  the  Richelieu.  Warner  there- 
upon erected  a  fort  at  the  mouth  of  the  Richelieu  to  prevent  the 
arrival  of  reinforcements  at  St.  Johns,  and  on  November  3d  the 
fortress  was  surrendered  to  Montgomery.  Montreal  was  taken 
on  the  13th,  and  about  the  first  of  December  Montgomery  joined 
Benedict  Arnold  under  the  walls  of  Quebec. 

On  the  last  day  of  the  year  1775  an  attack  was  launched  against 
Quebec.  A  blinding  snowstorm  raged  all  day,  and  towards  night 
Montgomery  approached  a  battery  which  he  had  failed  to  see  in 
the  blizzard,  and  was  mortally  wounded.  The  army  withdrew  up 
the  St.  Lawrence,  where  it  passed  the  winter,  suffering  with  the 
cold,  with  lack  of  provisions  and  with  illness.  The  siege  of  Quebec 
was  continued  under  the  leadership  of  Benedict  Arnold,  but  without 
avail.  In  the  early  spring  of  1776  a  Congressional  Commission, 
consisting  of  Benjamin  Franklin,  Samuel  Chase  and  Charles  Carroll 
was  dispatched  to  Canada;  but  being  unable  to  accomplish  any- 
thing, it  returned  to  Ticonderoga.  Early  in  June,  Gen.  John 
Thomas  arrived  and  took  command  of  the  army  before  Quebec, 
which,  with  reinforcements  that  were  soon  received,  numbered 
three  thousand.  At  this  juncture,  however,  appeared  that  greatest 
scourge  of  the  armies  of  former  days — the  smallpox — rendering  all 
but  nine  hundred  out  of  the  three  thousand  men  unfit  for  duty  at 
one  time.  General  Thomas  thereupon  retired  to  the  mouth  of  the 
Richelieu  River,  where  he  himself  died  of  the  dreaded  disease. 
The  command  thereupon  devolved  upon  Gen.  John  Sullivan. 
About  this  time  the  garrison  at  Quebec  was  reinforced  by  the 
arrival  of  Burgoyne  with  thirteen  thousand  men,  and  accordingly 
on  June  14th  Sullivan  retreated  with  his  entire  army  up  the  Richelieu 
River  and  reached  Ticonderoga  early  in  July. 

The  Canadian  expedition  had  ended  disastrously,  and  the  army 
that  had  been  brought  off  was  in  terrible  condition,  being  described 
by  John  Adams  as  "disgraced,  defeated,  discontented,  dispirited, 
undisciplined,  eaten  up  with  vermin,  no  clothes,  beds,  blankets, 
nor  medicines,  and  no  victuals  but  salt  pork  and  flour."  Surely 
their  desperate  condition  was  poorly  calculated  to  withstand  the 
advance  of  the  British  southward  into  the  Champlain  Valley. 
This  advance  was  actually  begun  that  same  summer,  but  the  little 
flotilla  of  Benedict  Arnold  at  the  Battle  of  Valcour  (q.  v.),  though 
itself  defeated,  administered  such  a  drubbing  to  the  English  fleet 

[95] 


THE  SUMMER  PARADISE  IN  HISTORY 

that  the  invading  forces  retired  for  the  winter,  until  they  could 
perfect  their  plans  for  Burgoyne's  Campaign  (q.  v.)  of  1777. 

MORGAN,  GEN.  DAN,  and  his  regiment  of  five  hundred  New 
Jersey  riflemen,  joined  General  Gates  at  Stillwater,  August  16,  1777. 
In  the  bloody  battle  of  September  19th,  in  which  Arnold  frustrated 
Burgoyne's  attempt  to  dislodge  the  American  left  wing  from  Bemis 
Heights,  Morgan  and  his  men  played  a  principal  part;  and  in  the 
final  conflict,  October  7th,  in  which  the  British  army  went  to  wreck, 
their  services  were  equally  eminent.  It  is  said  that  when  Morgan 
was  introduced  to  Burgoyne  after  the  surrender,  the  British  general 
took  him  by  the  hand,  exclaiming:  "My  dear  sir,  you  command 
the  finest  regiment  in  the  world! "  (See  Battle  of  Saratoga.) 

Morgan's  subsequent  achievement  at  Cowpens,  S.  C.,  where,  with 
nine  hundred  men  and  a  loss  of  twelve  killed  and  sixty-one  wounded, 
he  killed  and  disabled  two  hundred  and  thirty  of  the  enemy,  and 
took  six  hundred  prisoners  with  a  thousand  stand  of  arms,  is  one 
of  the  brilliant  chapters  in  the  history  of  the  Revolution.  (See 
Murphy,  Tim.) 

MOTHE,  CAPTAIN  DE  LA,  erected  Fort  St.  Anne  on  Isle  La 
Motte  in  1665,  leaving  his  name  for  the  island.  (See  Carignan-Salieres.) 

MOTHER  ANN  LEE,  "the  lady  elect,"  founder  of  the  Shakers, 
is  buried  in  Watervliet,  where  she  died  in  1784,  and  where  the  sect 
still  owns  a  large  acreage.  They  were  the  first  to  establish  a  com- 
munistic settlement  in  the  United  States.  Ann  Lee  (1736-84), 
whatever  else  she  was,  must  have  been  a  remarkable  woman.  Born 
in  Manchester,  England,  daughter  of  a  blacksmith  herself,  at  an 
early  age  a  factory  employee  and  cook  in  an  infirmary,  she  married, 
when  a  mere  girl,  a  blacksmith  by  whom  she  had  four  children,  all 
of  whom  died  in  infancy.  Joining  a  sect  known  as  the  Shaking 
Quakers,  she  became  subject  to  visions  and  revelations,  among  the 
latter  being  one  that  she  was  the  second  appearance  of  Christ — 
"Ann,  the  Word."  Utterly  without  education,  she  began  a  crusade 
against  marriage  as  "the  root  of  human  depravity,"  was  forthwith 
sent  to  prison,  and*  subsequently  to  a  madhouse.  Receiving  a 
divine  command  to  emigrate  to  America,  she  did  so  with  seven  of 
her  followers  in  1774,  and  in  1776,  at  Watervliet,  established  "The 
Church  of  Christ's  Second  Appearance,"  of  which,  after  formally 
dissolving  her  marriage  relation,  she  became  the  recognized  head. 
But  even  in  the  wilds  of  Watervliet  she  did  not  escape  persecution. 
She  was  accused  of  witchcraft  and,  probably  because  she  was 

[96] 


Dillon,  McLellan  and  Beadel,  Architects  Carl  Augustus  Heber,  Sculptor 

THE  CHAMPLAIN  MEMORIAL  AT  CROWN  POINT 


THE  SUMMER  PARADISE  IN  HISTORY 

opposed  to  all  war,  of  being  in  secret  correspondence  with  the  British. 
During  the  summer  of  1776  she  was  imprisoned  in  Albany  on  the 
charge  of  high  treason,  and  subsequently  placed  in  the  Poughkeepsie 
jail,  where  she  was  pardoned  in  1777  by  Gov.  George  Clinton. 
In  1780  the  society  increased  largely,  and  branches  were  established 
at  New  Lebanon,  West  Pittsfield  and  other  places  in  the  East,  all 
under  the  inspiration  and  leadership  of  Mother  Ann.  She  had 
declared  that  when  she  left  this  world,  it  would  be  to  ascend  to  heaven 
in  the  twinkling  of  an  eye,  but  this  programme  was  not  carried  out. 
Returning  to  Watervliet,  she  died  a  natural  death,  and  was  buried 
there,  her  grave,  in  accordance  with  the  custom  of  the  sect,  being 
unmarked  except  by  the  plainest  of  monuments. 

MT.  DEFIANCE,  originaUy  caUed  Sugar  Hill,  was  the  key  to 
Fort  Ticonderoga.  Its  steep  sides  rise  on  the  west  of  the  railroad, 
just  south  of  the  station  for  Montcalm  Landing,  and  are  in  clear 
view  from  the  trains.  It  commanded  the  defences  of  the  old  fort 
from  the  southwest,  and  made  them  absolutely  untenable  in  the 
presence  of  an  artillery  fire  from  its  summit.  Nevertheless,  it  was 
left  unfortified  by  Montcalm  when  he  completed  the  fort,  and  was 
not  taken  advantage  of  by  Abercrombie  in  his  attack  of  1758.  It 
was  not  fully  recognized  as  a  great  strategic  point  until  Burgoyne 
occupied  it  in  his  investment  of  Ticonderoga  in  1777,  and  thus 
compelled  the  retreat  of  General  St.  Clair.  (SeeBurgoyne'sCampaign.) 
Around  this  mountain  might  be  written  a  chapter  of  error  and 
incompetency  which,  in  the  perspective  of  time,  would  seem  almost 
unbelievable.  (See  Fort  Ticonderoga.) 

MT.  INDEPENDENCE  forms  a  point  projecting  into  Lake 
Champlain  from  the  eastern  shore,  directly  opposite  Fort  Ticon- 
deroga. It  was  so  named  by  the  troops  in  July,  1776,  when  a  courier 
arrived  with  a  copy  of  the  Declaration  of  Independence,  which  was 
read  to  the  troops  of  the  garrison  by  Colonel  St.  Clair.  It  was 
fortified  in  1777  by  St.  Clair. 

MOUNT  McGREGOR,  about  twelve  miles  north  of  Saratoga,  was 
made  historical  by  the  death  there  of  General  U.  S.  Grant,  which 
occurred  July  23, 1885.  It  is  now  the  site  of  a  sanatorium  maintained 
by  the  Metropolitan  Life  Insurance  Company  for  the  use  of  its  agents. 

MURPHY,  TIM,  THE  BENEFACTOR  OF  SCHOHARIE, 

was  a  Virginian,  who  came  north  with  Morgan's  riflemen.  After 
the  capture  of  Burgoyne,  his  company  was  ordered  to  Schoharie, 
Murphy  remaining  there  after  their  term  of  service  had  expired. 

[97] 


THE  SUMMER  PARADISE  IN  HISTORY 

Although  acting  without  authority,  he  was  practically  the  leader 
in  the  desultory  warfare  that  followed.  He  fought  Indians  in  the 
Indian  way,  wherever  circumstances  would  permit.  His  double- 
barreled  rifle  was  unerring  in  its  aim,  and  he  boasted  after  the  war 
that  he  had  killed  forty  redskins,  half  of  whom  he  had  scalped.  He 
loved  danger  for  danger's  sake,  yet,  strange  to  say,  never  received  a 
wound  or  bore  a  scar.  The  shooting  of  the  British  General  Fraser 
(q.  v.),  at  Saratoga,  is  attributed  to  him.  His  bravery  at  the  defense 
of  the  Middle  Fort  at  Middleburg  (see  Forts  in  Schoharie  County), 
against  Sir  John  Johnson,  in  the  fall  of  1780,  is  said  to  have  prevented 
its  surrender.  , 

•JVTICHOLSON'S  EXPEDITION  of  1709  was  the  first  important 
J.  i  move  against  the  French  in  Queen  Anne's  War.  A  joint  attack 
upon  Montreal  was  proposed,  one  party  to  proceed  from  Albany  up 
Lake  Champlain  and  the  other  to  go  by  sea  to  Quebec,  when  they 
would  advance  upon  the  French  from  both  directions.  The  land 
force  was  under  command  of  Col.  Francis  Nicholson,  with 
Col.  Peter  Schuyler  commanding  the  vanguard.  The  army 
proceeded  to  the  present  site  of  Fort  Ann  and  there  awaited  news 
of  the  arrival  of  the  fleet  at  Quebec.  It  was  during  this  advance 
that  Fort  Ingoldsby  (q.  v.),  Fort  Saratoga  (q.  v.),  Fort  Miller  (q.  v.), 
Fort  Nicholson  (see  Fort  Edward)  and  Fort  Schuyler  (see  Fort 
Ann)  were  built.  At  Fort  Schuyler,  Nicholson  made  a  hundred 
bark  canoes  and  a  hundred  and  ten  bateaux  for  his  journey  down 
Lake  Champlain.  The  fleet  never  reached  Quebec,  being  sent  to 
Portugal  instead,  and  accordingly,  after  waiting  through  many 
discouraging  delays,  while  his  army  was  decimated  by  sickness, 
Nicholson  retreated  to  Albany,  destroying  all  of  the  canoes  and 
the  forts  as  far  southward  as  Fort  Saratoga. 

Two  years  later,  in  1711,  a  similar  joint  expedition  against  Canada 
was  planned  by  the  Colonies,  and  the  land  forces  were  again  placed 
in  command  of  Nicholson,  who  now  held  a  general's  commission. 
He  proceeded  as  before  up  the  Hudson  to  the  site  of  Fort  Ann,  but 
had  scarcely  arrived  when  news  was  received  that  the  fleet  with 
which  he  was  to  co-operate  had  been  wrecked  at  the  mouth  of  the 
St.  Lawrence.  Accordingly  he  at  once  withdrew  to  Albany.  Thus 
these  two  attempts  to  invade  Canada  during  Queen  Anne's  War 
ended  without  firing  a  shot. 

NORTH  AMERICAN  PRODUCTS.  The  Royal  Magazine, 
London,  January,  1760,  in  an  article  describing  the  original  forti- 

[98] 


THE  SUMMER  PARADISE  IN  HISTORY 

fications  at  Crown  Point,  says:  "The  country  in  which  this  forti- 
fication is  erected  is  one  of  the  most  fruitful  in  North  America,  as 
appears  from  its  being  covered  with  sugar-trees  and  ginseng." 

NORTH  ELBA  has  other  claim  to  mention  than  as  the  home  of 
John  Brown,  the  hero  of  Harper's  Ferry.  It  was  for  long  a  favorite 
summer  home  of  the  Indians,  who  made  the  Adirondacks  their 
hunting  ground,  and  upon  all  the  earliest  maps  one  of  their  villages 
is  located  in  the  township. 


OGHQUAGA,  the  most  important  Indian  town  on  the  Upper 
Susquehanna,  stood  on  both  sides  of  the  river,  just  below  a 
large  bend  in  the  stream.  The  present  village  of  Windsor  now 
occupies  the  spot.  It  was  burned  by  Col.  William  Butler,  in  October, 
1778,  some  thirty  or  forty  houses  being  then  destroyed.  It  was 
retaliation  for  this  and  similar  deeds  that  led,  a  few  weeks  later, 
to  the  tragedy  of  Cherry  Valley  (q.  v.).  To  this  village  the  noted 
New  England  divine,  Rev.  Jonathan  Edwards,  sent  his  second  son 
and  namesake,  at  the  age  of  ten,  to  learn  the  Indian  language,  with  a 
view  of  becoming  a  missionary  to  the  aborigines;  but  when  the 
war  broke  out  a  few  months  later,  a  faithful  Indian,  who  had  special 
care  of  the  lad,  returned  him  to  his  father  in  Massachusetts,  carrying 
him  part  of  the  way  on  his  back.  This  boy  was  afterwards  President 
of  Union  College. 

OLD  DUTCH  PULPIT.  In  the  First  Reformed  Church,  Albany, 
are  the  pulpit,  hour-glass  and  Bible  which  came  from  Holland. 
The  pulpit  of  oak,  octagonal,  four  feet  high  and  three  feet  in  diameter, 
was  in  use  one  hundred  and  fifty  years,  by  eight  successive  pastors, 
as  was  also  the  hour-glass  by  which  the  preacher  was  timed  by  the 
whole  congregation.  Greatly  did  he  offend  if  he  failed  to  occupy 
his  full  sixty  minutes.  The  Bible,  with  its  wood  and  leather  covers, 
brass  corners  and  clasps,  was  printed  in  1730. 

OLD  STONE  FORT,  in  Schoharie,  was  built  in  1772,  as  a  church 
for  the  Dutch  Reformed,  the  material  being  contributed  by  members 
of  the  congregation,  the  names  of  whom — many  of  them — were 
carved  on  the  stones,  and  are  still  visible.  It  was  also  used  as  a 
fort,  and  was  attacked  in  the  raid  of  October,  1780.  Marks  of  the 
cannon-balls  then  fired  at  it  are  visible  in  the  cornice  on  the  north- 
west side.  It  was  afterwards  again  used  as  a  place  of  worship  till 
1844.  In  1857  it  was  deeded  to  the  State,  and  in  1873  donated  by 

[99] 


THE  SUMMER  PARADISE  IN  HISTORY 

the  State  to  the  county.  It  contains  an  interesting  collection  of 
relics,  etc.,  the  property  of  the  Schoharie  Historical  Society.  (See 
David  Williams  Monument  and  Col.  Peter  Vrooman.) 

OTSEGO  LAKE  has  been  called  Lake  of  the  Haunting  Shadows 
by  Miss  Constance  Fenimore  Woolson,  a  grand-niece  of  James 
Fenimore  Cooper,  in  reference  to  the  people  of  his  virile  imagina- 
tion, who,  in  his  novels,  frequented  its  shores.  In  an  article  in 
Harper's  Magazine,  in  December,  1871,  appeared  the  following 
verses  by  her: 

"O  Haunted  Lake,  from  out  whose  silver  fountains 

The  mighty  Susquehanna  takes  its  rise; 

O  Haunted.  Lake,  among  the  pine-clad  mountains, 

Forever  smiling  upwards  to  the  skies — 
"A  master's  hand  hath  painted  all  thy  beauties, 

A  master's  mind  hath  peopled  all  thy  shore 

With  wraiths  of  mighty  hunters  and  fair  maidens 

Haunting  thy  forest  glades  forever  more. 
"A  master's  heart  hath  gilded  all  thy  valley 

With  golden  splendor  from  a  loving  breast, 

And  in  thy  little  churchyard  'neath  the  pine  trees 

A  master's  body  sleeps  in  quiet  rest. 
"O  Haunted  Lake,  guard  well  thy  sacred  story, 

Guard  well  the  memory  of  that  honored  name, 

Guard  well  the  grave  that  gave  thee  all  thy  glory, 

And  raised  thee  to  enduring  fame." 


PALMER,  REV.  RAY  (1808-87),  the  first,  and  for  sixteen 
years  (1850-66)  pastor  of  the  Congregational  Church  in 
Albany,  holds  high  place  among  American  hymnologists.  His 
first  effort  in  that  line  to  attract  any  notice,  "  My  Faith  Looks  Up  to 
Thee,"  has  been  translated  into  more  than  twenty  languages.  Dr. 
Palmer  is  buried  in  the  Rural  Cemetery. 

PARKMAN,  FRANCIS  (1823-93),  stands  pre-eminent  as  the 
historian  of  the  rise,  decline  and  fall  of  the  French  power  in  America. 
His  books  relating  to  the  struggles  of  France  to  establish  her  power 
permanently  in  this  country  have  never  been  surpassed  for  their 
vivid  and  fascinating  descriptions  of  men,  events  and  scenes.  The 
absolute  accuracy  of  their  data  is  unquestioned,  for  Parkman  was 
above  everything  else  a  most  painstaking  historian,  before  whose 
searching  inquiry  no  fact  was  too  insignificant  to  receive  the  most 
minute  investigation  and  verification.  He  went  seven  times  to 
Europe  to  examine  documentary  evidence  not  elsewhere  available; 

[100] 


THE  SUMMER  PARADISE  IN  HISTORY 

he  repeatedly  visited  the  remnants  of  the  Indian  tribes  still  in 
existence;  and  personally  explored  the  country  of  which  he  wrote. 
Never  robust,  he  became  a  victim  to  the  rare  enthusiasm  with 
which  he  pursued  hia  researches,  until  he  was  compelled  at  last  to 
rely  upon  others  to  read  to  him,  and  amanuenses  to  write  from 
dictation  the  last  pages  of  his  work.  His  struggle  to  complete  the 
task  which  he  had  set  himself  is  one  of  the  most  heroic  in  the  history 
of  literature. 

In  his  "Historic  Handbook  of  the  Northern  Tour"  Parkman  drew 
from  his  several  histories  such  narratives  as  are  connected  with 
points  of  interest  on  Lake  Champlain  and  Lake  George.  There, 
in  the  beautiful  style  which  has  given  him  unquestioned  place  in 
literature  as  in  history,  he  tells  in  detail  the  stories  of  the  discovery 
of  the  two  great  lakes,  the  Battles  of  Lake  George  and  Fort  Ticon- 
deroga,  the  siege  and  capture  of  Fort  William  Henry,  and  much 
other  matter  covering  the  same  fiercely  contested  region.  To 
those  who  are  without  either  the  tune  or  inclination  to  read  his 
longer  works,  the  "Historic  Handbook  of  the  Northern  Tour"  offers 
a  welcome  acquaintance  with  one  of  the  most  delightful  historians 
of  the  country. 

PATROON  SYSTEM,  under  which  a  large  part  of  the  region 
about  Albany  was  settled,  was  established  in  1629.  Under  its 
provisions  any  member  of  the  Dutch  West  India  Company  who 
planted  a  colony  of  fifty  souls  over  fifteen  years  of  age  was  granted 
land  for  sixteen  miles  along  the  shore  of  a  navigable  river,  or  eight 
miles  on  both  sides,  the  extent  into  the  interior  being  unlimited. 
Title  to  the  soil  was  absolute  in  the  patroon,  and  colonists  were 
little  better  than  serfs.  Although  the  original  provisions  were 
greatly  modified,  many  characteristics  of  the  old  feudal  tenure 
were  continued  till  the  middle  of  the  Nineteenth  Century,  giving 
rise  to  the  anti-rent  agitation  of  1839-47.  (See  Anti-Rentism.) 

PLATTSBURG,  settled  in  1784,  was,  during  the  War  of  1812, 
headquarters  for  the  United  States  forces  on  the  northern  frontier, 
and  here  Gen.  Alexander  Macomb  successfully  withstood  a  vastly 
superior  land  force  of  British,  under  General  Prevost,  at  the  time  of 
the  naval  battle  of  Lake  Champlain  (q.  v.). 

General  Prevost 's  advance  on  Plattsburg  was  begun  September  4, 
1814,  and  the  following  day  halted  at  West  Chazy;  on  the  6th  the 
British  entered  the  village  limits,  but  were  driven  back  by  the  fire 
of  the  Americans,  who  were  entrenched  on  the  southern  bank  of  the 

[101] 


THE  SUMMER  PARADISE  IN  HISTORY 

Saranac.  The  British  then  encamped  about  two  miles  distant, 
waiting  for  the  approach  of  their  fleet,  which  swung  into  view  the 
morning  of  September  llth.  While  the  fight  on  the  water  was 
raging,  the  British  made  their  assault  by  land,  approaching  in 
three  columns,  one  by  the  principal  bridge,  one  by  the  bridge  in  the 
village,  while  a  third,  which  was  to  cross  at  a  ford  three  miles  above, 
was  led  astray  by  a  false  road  planned  by  General  Macomb.  The 
assault  was  successfully  resisted,  and,  hastened  by  the  signal  defeat 
of  then*  navy,  the  next  day  the  British,  leaving  behind  the  dead, 
sick  and  wounded,  vast  quantities  of  provisions,  ammunition,  tents, 
entrenching  tools  and  ordinance  stores,  were  in  full  flight  for  Canada. 
At  Plattsburg  is  now  located  one  of  the  posts  of  the  U.  S.  Army. 
A  beautiful  monument  to  Samuel  Champlain,  surmounted  by  an 
heroic  figure  of  the  explorer,  stands  in  the  city,  overlooking  the 
broad  waters  of  Cumberland  Bay. 

POOR,  ENOCH,  at  the  head  of  a  New  Hampshire  regiment, 
was  in  Montgomery's  Canadian  expedition  of  1775-1776.  On  the 
retreat  the  Americans  concentrated  near  Crown  Point  (q.  v.),  and 
Colonel  Poor  was  actively  occupied  in  strengthening  the  defence  at 
that  post,  till  a  council  of  general  officers  recommended  its  evacua- 
tion, which  was  accordingly  ordered.  In  the  first  Battle  of  Saratoga 
(q.  v.),  Poor's  brigade  sustained  more  than  two-thirds  of  the  whole 
American  loss  in  killed,  wounded  and  missing.  At  the  second 
battle,  Poor,  with  Arnold  and  Morgan,  led  in  the  attack. 

PUTNAM,  GEN.  ISRAEL  (1718-90),  perhaps  our  most  strenu- 
ous old-time  hero,  distinguished  himself,  and  three  times,  in  1755-58, 
came  very  near  his  own  death  in  the  territory  here  considered.  As 
captain  under  Maj.-Gen.  Phinehas  Lyman,  he  was  present  at  the 
Battle  of  Lake  George,  and  afterwards  became  one  of  the  leading 
members  of  Rogers's  famous  band  of  Rangers  that  annoyed  the 
enemy  during  the  next  two  years. 

At  Miller's  Falls,  seven  miles  south  of  Fort  Edward,  where  the 
Hudson  falls  fifteen  or  twenty  feet  in  eighty  rods,  it  is  recorded  that 
Putnam  so  astonished  a  party  of  Indians  hot  in  his  pursuit,  by 
steering  his  boat  directly  down  the  current  amid  ragged  rocks  and 
whirling  eddies  to  safety  in  the  pool  below,  that  they  regarded  him 
as  God-protected,  and  believed  it  would  affront  the  Great  Spirit  to 
further  attempt  his  life. 

While  stationed  upon  Rogers's  Island,  opposite  Fort  Edward,  the 
barracks  in  the  town  took  fire,  placing  the  powder  magazine  in 

[102] 


THE  SUMMER  PARADISE  IN  HISTORY 

imminent  danger.  Putnam,  crossing  upon  the  ice,  and  unmindful 
of  peril,  against  even  the  commandant's  orders  to  desist,  threw 
pailful  after  pailful  of  water  upon  the  kindling  magazine,  till  he  had 
extinguished  the  flames  and  saved  the  fort  from  impending  destruc- 
tion, though  at  the  expense  of  terribly  blistered  legs,  thighs,  arms 
and  face,  and  a  consequent  month  in  the  hospital. 

Another  escape  from  the  flames  was  even  more  dramatic.  In 
August,  1758,  he  was  taken  prisoner  by  Indians  near  Wood  Creek, 
which  flows  just  east  of  the  Delaware  and  Hudson  tracks,  from  Fort 
Ann  into  Lake  Champlain.  His  captors,  evidently  not  the  same 
party  that  saw  his  escape  at  Miller's  Falls,  after  a  few  preliminary 
tortures,  had  stripped  and  bound  him  to  a  tree,  and  the  flames  were 
already  crackling  around  him,  when  a  French  officer  arrived  most 
opportunely,  kicked  aside  the  firebrands,  cuffed  and  upbraided  the 
savages,  and  released  their  singed  but  still  unterrified  victim.  He 
was  afterward  sent  to  Montreal,  and,  in  due  time,  exchanged,  largely, 
it  is  said,  through  the  efforts  of  Col.  Peter  Schuyler,  who  was  him- 
self a  prisoner. 

QUEEN  ANNE'S  GIFT.  The  communion  service  used  in  St. 
Peter's  Episcopal  Church,  Albany,  for  almost  two  hundred 
years,  consists  of  six  pieces  of  massive  silver,  each  of  which  bears 
the  royal  arms,  and  the  legend:  "The  gift  of  Her  Majesty,  Anne, 
by  the  Grace  of  God,  of  Great  Britain,  France  and  Ireland,  and  of 
Her  Plantations  in  North  America,  Queen,  to  Her  Indian  Chappel 
of  the  Onondawgus." 

"QUEEN  ESTHER"  was  the  granddaughter  of  Catherine 
Montour,  a  half-breed  Indian,  supposed  to  have  been  the  daughter 
of  Count  Frontenac.  She  was  captured  and  carried  into  the  Seneca 
country,  where  she  married  a  young  chief,  and  had  several  children, 
among  them  "French  Margaret,"  who  was  the  mother  of  Esther. 
The  latter's  superior  mind  gave  her  a  great  ascendency  over  the 
Senecas,  among  whom  she  ruled  as  sovereign.  She  accompanied  the 
delegates  of  the  Six  Nations  to  Philadelphia,  where  her  refined  and 
attractive  personality  gained  her  many  courtesies  from  the  ladies 
of  that  city.  But  she  is  chiefly  remembered  by  the  awful  part  she 
took  in  the  Wyoming  Massacre  (q.  v.)>  when,  to  avenge  the  death 
of  her  son,  killed  in  battle,  she  is  charged  with  tomahawking  fourteen 
persons,  although  Stone  argues,  chiefly  from  her  reputed  personality, 
that  this  could  not  be  true.  A  rock  near  Wilkes-Barre  is  called 
Queen  Esther's  rock. 

[1031 


THE  SUMMER  PARADISE  IN  HISTORY 

RANGERS  were  a  corps  of  adventurous  spirits  raised  by  Robert 
Rogers  during  the  French  and  Indian  War,  to  perform  scout 
duty,  make  raids  against  the  French,  and  harass  them  in  every  way 
possible.  The  organization  was  continually  on  duty,  both  as  a 
whole  and  in  detachments,  and  rendered  a  service  as  efficient  as  it 
was  spectacular.  Among  bis  lieutenants  Rogers  numbered  John 
Stark  and  Israel  Putnam,  two  names  which  in  after-years  took 
foremost  rank  during  the  Revolution. 

RENSSELAER,  formerly  known  as  Greenbush,  and  by  the  Dutch 
as  Het  Greene  Bosch,  across  the  river  from  Albany,  was  in  two  wars 
the  rendezvous  for  troops.  It  was  here  that  both  the  unfortunate 
General  Abercrombie  and  the  extravagant  General  Amherst  col- 
lected in  1758-59  their  respective  armies  for  the  capture  of  the 
French  forts  on  Lake  Champlain.  About  a  mile  away  from  the 
ferry  is  the  site  of  the  barracks  erected  by  the  United  States  Govern- 
ment in  1812,  with  accommodations  for  6,000  soldiers  marshalled  to 
defend  the  frontier,  or  invade  Canada,  as  circumstances  might 
require.  General  Dearborn,  Senior  Major-General  of  the  United 
States  Army,  and  in  command  of  the  Northern  Department,  had  his 
headquarters  here  for  some  tune.  Here,  also,  was  the  birthplace  of 
Yankee  Doodle  (q.  v.)- 

RIEDESEL,  BARON  AND  MADAME,  were  both  with  Bur- 
goyne  (see  Burgoyne's  Campaign)  at  the  time  of  his  surrender.  The 
Baron  was  in  command  of  the  Hessian  troops,  which  formed  an 
important  part  of  the  expedition,  and  she,  with  her  children,  accom- 
panied her  husband.  For  six  days,  during  the  active  hostilities  of 
the  Battle  of  Saratoga,  she  and  her  companions  remained  in  the 
cellar  of  what  was  afterwards  called  the  Riedesel  House,  opposite 
the  mouth  of  the  Battenkill,  on  the  Hudson.  It  was  she  who  ten- 
derly nursed  the  mortally  wounded  British  general,  Fraser  (q.  v.), 
and  recorded  his  last  words  and  wishes.  After  the  surrender,  both 
she  and  her  husband  were  hospitably  entertained  by  General  Schuyler, 
at  the  Schuyler  Mansion  in  Albany,  due  acknowledgment  of  which 
is  made  in  her  letters,  published  in  Berlin,  in  1800,  and  translated 
by  W.  L.  Stone. 

ROCK  DUNDER  lifts  its  bare  surface  above  the  level  of  Lake 
Champlain  just  southeast  of  Juniper  Island.  It  is  small  in  extent 
and  at  times  of  high  water  or  storm  is  hidden  from  view.  From  a 
distance  it  is  easily  mistaken  for  a  boat,  and  this  has  led  to  many 
amusing  incidents  which  have  become  traditions  of  the  locality.  It 

[104] 


THE  SUMMER  PARADISE  IN  HISTORY 

is  a  continual  object  of  interest  to  passengers  on  the  steamers  of 
the  Champlain  Transportation  Company,  which  pass  close  by  it 
on  entering  and  leaving  Burlington  at  the  south. 

ROGERS,  CAPT.  ROBERT  (1727-1800),  a  native  of  New 
Hampshire,  raised  and  commanded  Rogers's  Rangers,  which  acquired 
a  great  reputation  in  the  vicinity  of  Lake  George  during  the  French 
and  Indian  War.  During  1756,  with  Fort  William  Henry  as  a  base 
of  operations,  he  made  thirteen  daring  raids  into  the  country  around 
Ticonderoga.  In  January,  1757,  his  band  of  one  hundred  and 
seventy,  while  scouting  north  of  that  place,  met  with  one  hundred 
French  and  six  hundred  Indians,  and  lost  one  hundred  men,  though 
they  killed  one  hundred  and  fifty  of  French  and  Indians.  In 
August  he  repulsed  an  attack  of  the  French,  under  Marin,  near 
Fort  Ann.  In  1759  he  was  sent  by  Sir  Jeffrey  Amherst  from  Crown 
Point  to  destroy  the  village,  near  the  St.  Lawrence,  of  the  Abenakis, 
or  St.  Francis  Indians,  who  had  long  been  the  scourge  of  the  frontier. 
This  service  he  performed,  killing  two  hundred  Indians,  although  in 
getting  back  to  the  English  outpost  his  force  was  almost  annihilated. 
On  one  of  his  scouting  expeditions,  in  March,  1758,  he  was  pursued 
by  Indians  from  Ticonderoga,  and  coming  to  the  crest  of  a  moun- 
tain at  the  lower  end  of  Lake  George,  at  a  point  where  it  sloped 
almost  precipitately  down  to  the  ice,  he  took  off  his  pack  and  allowed 
it  to  slide  down  through  the  snow.  Then  putting  his  snowshoes  on 
backwards,  he  descended  by  another  route.  The  Indians  on  coming 
up,  believed  he  had  been  met  by  another  on  the  summit,  and  that 
they  had  fought  and  rolled  down  the  cliff  together.  Seeing  Rogers 
unharmed  on  the  ice  below,  they  concluded  that  he  was  under  the 
protection  of  the  Great  Spirit,  and  gave  up  the  chase.  The  precipice 
has  since  been  known  as  Rogers's  Rock.  His  name  is  also  perpetuated 
in  an  island  in  the  Hudson,  opposite  Fort  Edward,  where  a  block- 
house once  stood  and  troops  were  encamped. 

Rogers's  latter  career  was  badly  clouded.  As  commandant  of 
Michilimackinac,  Mich.,  he  was  accused,  although  not  convicted, 
of  plotting  to  plunder  his  own  fort  and  deliver  it  to  the  French. 
During  the  Revolution  he  was  suspected  by  the  Americans  of  being 
a  British  spy;  and  afterwards  violated  his  parole,  accepting  a  com- 
mission in  the  British  Army.  In  1778  he  was  proscribed  and  ban- 
ished, after  which  date  his  history  is  lost.  He  was  a  writer  as  well 
as  fighter.  His  Journal  has  had  different  editors,  one  being  Franklin 
B.  Hough,  of  Albany  (1883). 

[105] 


THE  SUMMER  PARADISE  IN  HISTORY 

RURAL  CEMETERY,  THE  ALBANY,  for  which  there  is  a 
special  station  on  the  Delaware  and  Hudson,  is  the  resting  place  of 
many  men  eminent  in  their  country's  history.  Among  them  are 
Gen.  Philip  Schuyler,  Gen.  Solomon  Van  Rensselaer,  Gen.  Peter 
Gansevoort,  Col.  John  Mills,  Pres.  Chester  A.  Arthur,  William 
L.  Marcy,  Daniel  Manning,  Thurlow  Weed,  and  many  heroes  of 
the  Civil  War.  • 

OANDY  HILL,  probably  originally  named  Kingsbury,  was  at 
O  first  so  nicknamed  from  the  long  sandy  hill  on  the  main  high- 
way leading  north  from  the  village.  It  was  said  to  have  been  fas- 
tened to  the  beautiful  village  by  Burgoyne's  teamsters.  It  was 
incorporated  in  1810  and  the  name  changed  to  Hudson  Falls  in  1910. 
Sandy  Hill  in  the  first  half  of  the  last  century  was  the  most  promi- 
nent village  north  of  Troy  and  was  noted  for  its  distinguished  men. 
Among  many  could  be  named  Gov.  Silas  Wright,  Gov.  Nathaniel 
Pitcher,  William  L.  Lee,  Chief  Justice  and  Lord  High  Chancellor  of 
the  Sandwich  Islands,  Gen.  Orville  Clark,  Atty.-Gen.  John  H. 
Martindale,  and  Hon.  Charles  Rogers. 

SARATOGA  BATTLE  MONUMENT,  erected  to  commemorate 
the  surrender  of  Burgoyne  (see  Burgoyne's  Campaign),  is  in  the 
village  of  Schuylerville,  which  was  formerly  known  as  Old  Saratoga. 
It  stands  within  the  lines  of  Burgoyne's  intrenchments,  on  a  bluff 
three  hundred  and  fifty  feet  above  the  Hudson,  and  from  a  height 
of  one  hundred  and  fifty-five  feet  overlooks  the  grounds  of  the 
surrender.  A  staircase  of  bronze  leads  from  the  base  to  the  top, 
where  can  be  seen  the  entire  region  between  Lake  George,  the  Green 
Mountains  and  the  Catskills.  On  each  of  three  sides  of  the  monu- 
ment is  a  niche  containing  heroic  statues  of  Generals  Gates,  Schuyler 
and  Morgan,  while  the  fourth  is  left  vacant,  with  the  name  of 
Arnold  inscribed  underneath.  With  the  monument,  and  lining  its 
two  stories,  are  decorations  in  bronze  representing  historical  and 
allegorical  scenes  connected  with  the  campaign  of  Burgoyne.  The 
corner-stone  was  laid  on  October  17, 1877,  when  poems  and  addresses 
were  delivered  by  Horatio  Seymour,  George  William  Curtis,  James 
Grant  Wilson,  Alfred  B.  Street  and  William  L.  Stone.  (See  Battle 
of  Saratoga.)  It  was  formally  dedicated  by  the  State  of  New  York 
in  October,  1912,  with  impressive  civil  and  military  ceremonies. 

SARATOGA  LAKE  is  three  and  a  half  miles  east  of  the  village  of 
Saratoga  Springs.  It  is  about  five  miles  in  length,  with  an  average 
width  of  one  mile.  Here  have  taken  place  some  of  the  most  brilliant 

[106] 


THE  SUMMER  PARADISE  IN  HISTORY 

and  exciting  college  regattas  ever  held  in  America.  It  was  a  favorite 
resort  of  the  Indians,  as  it  is  now  of  summer  vacationists  and  excur- 
sion parties. 

SARATOGA  MASSACRE  occurred  on  the  morning  of  the  17th 
of  November,  1745,  at  old  Fort  Saratoga,  near  the  mouth  of  Fish 
Creek,  where  Schuylerville  now  stands.  A  horde  of  French  and 
Indians,  under  the  leadership  of  Marin,  had  come  down  from 
Montreal  to  raid  the  settlements  in  the  Connecticut  Valley.  The 
approach  of  winter,  however,  and  the  lack  of  suitable  provisions,  led 
the  Indians  to  refuse  to  go  eastward  of  Crown  Point.  Accordingly, 
at  the  instance  of  Father  Piquet,  the  French  Prefect,  Apostolique  of 
Canada,  the  band  turned  southward  towards  Fort  Orange. 

"The  scowling  portholes  of  the  old  Schuyler  mansion  seemed  to 
laugh  between  the  tendrils  of  the  creeping  vines.  Suddenly,  in  the 
early  morning,  the  scene  of  peace  and  prosperity  was  changed  to 
slaughter,  pillage  and  destruction.  Philip  Schuyler,  the  elder,  uncle 
of  Gen.  Philip  Schuyler,  was  offered  immunity  in  the  midst  of  the 
fray;  but  he  scorned  safety  at  the  expense  of  his  neighbors,  and  was 
shot  to  death  in  his  own  doorway.  The  houses  and  fort  were  burned 
to  the  ground,  the  cattle  killed  or  burned  in  their  stalls,  and  only 
one  or  two  inhabitants  escaped  to  tell  the  tale." — Ellen  Hardia 
Walworth,  in  Historic  Towns. 

SARATOGA  SPRINGS  takes  its  name  from  Fort  Saratoga, 
which  stood  beside  the  Hudson  on  the  present  site  of  Schuylerville. 
The  derivation  of  the  word  Saratoga,  however,  is  shrouded  in 
obscurity.  Many  attempts  have  been  made  to  establish  its  meaning, 
but  all  have  been  conjectures,  most  of  which  are  without  sound 
foundation  in  the  Iroquois  language.  It  has  been  asserted,  for 
instance,  that  it  comes  from  two  Indian  words  meaning  "Place  of 
Salt, "  whence  the  Salt  Springs,  and  also  that  it  means  "Place  of 
Sparkling  Waters."  These  interpretations  are  erroneous,  a  fact 
especially  evident  since  the  original  application  of  the  word  was  to 
a  point  on  the  Hudson  and  not  to  the  Springs  at  all.  The  changes  of 
time,  however,  have  caused  Old  Saratoga  to  be  entirely  forgotten, 
except  by  those  who  find  interest  in  history  and  tradition,  while  to 
the  modern  world  the  name  has  become  a  synonym  for  Salt  Springs 
and  Sparkling  Waters,  and  a  designation  for  one  of  the  best  known 
health  and  pleasure  resorts  on  the  American  continent.  The  develop- 
ment of  this  celebrated  watering  place  began  at  the  High  Rock 
Springs,  which  was  known  to  the  Indians.  As  long  ago  as  1783, 

1107] 


THE  SUMMER  PARADISE  IN  HISTORY 

George  Washington,  Alexander  Hamilton  and  Gov.  George  Clinton 
visited  the  Springs  together.  The  list  of  distinguished  personages 
who  have  since  enjoyed  its  benefits  and  pleasures  would  more 
than  fill  this  book  of  notes  to  overflowing. 

Next  to  the  original  Indian  occupants,  the  ground  on  which  the 
village  of  Saratoga  stands,  and  through  which  the  mineral  waters  of 
Saratoga  percolate,  belonged  to  Rip  Van  Dam,  who  received  it  by 
allotment  in  1770,  but  is  otherwise  unknown  to  fame.  The  first 
hotel  was  built  by  Dirck  Scoughten  in  1771,  near  the  High  Rock 
Spring,  and  was  occupied  three  years  later  by  John  Arnold  of 
Rhode  Island.  The  surroundings  at  that  time  included  sixteen 
Indian  cabins  in  plain  sight.  Wolves  howled  and  panthers  screamed 
by  night,  black  bears  were  out  for  berries  in  the  daytime,  wild  deer 
and  moose  drank  from  brook  and  lake,  and  overhead  eagles  soared 
and  built  their  nests  in  the  lofty  pines. 

The  first  cottage  owner  was  Gen.  Philip  Schuyler,  who,  in  1783, 
built  a  Bummer-house  near  the  Springs.  At  the  time  Sir  William 
Johnson  visited  the  High  Rock  Spring,  it  is  said  that  the  waters  had 
ceased  to  flow  over  the  top,  and  there  is  a  legend  to  the  effect  that 
it  was  because  some  squaws  had  washed  themselves  there  that  the 
offended  waters  shrank  from  their  polluting  touch  into  the  bosom  of 
the  rock.  It  was  not  till  1866  that  a  little  scientific  tubing  induced 
them  to  resume  their  original  channel.  Knowledge  of  the  other 
springs,  of  which  there  are  many,  has  come  in  some  cases  by  careful 
searching,  in  others  by  chance.  Congress  Spring  was  discovered  in 
1792  by  Gov.  John  Taylor  Gilman,  of  New  Hampshire,  a  Revo- 
lutionary soldier  and  member  of  the  Continental  Congress,  in  honor 
of  which  it  was  named.  Columbian  Spring  was  first  tubed  in  1805 
by  Gideon  Putnam,  who  two  years  before  had  opened  the  Union 
Hotel,  which  was  much  larger  than  any  that  had  preceded  it,  but 
small,  indeed,  compared  with  the  magnificent  structures  of  the 
present  day.  Saratoga  has  had  many  fires,  each  conflagration 
resulting  in  more  commodious  and  palatial  accommodations,  till, 
like  the  health  and  pleasure  attractions  which  surround  them,  they 
are  without  an  equal  in  the  United  States.  The  erection  of  an 
adequate  convention  hall,  in  1893,  perfected  arrangements  by 
which  the  largest  assemblages — political,  religious,  or  fraternal — can 
be  admirably  housed,  and  many  of  the  most  important  and  inter- 
esting national  gatherings  are  now  regularly  held  at  Saratoga. 

All  of  the  important  springs  in  Saratoga  have  been  taken  over 
by  the  State,  and  many  of  those  that  had  failed  have  been  brought 

[108] 


THE  SUMMER  PARADISE  IN  HISTORY 

back  to  their  former  liberal  flow  by  scientific  treatment.  They  are 
now  controlled  by  the  State  for  the  benefit  of  all  the  people,  with  a 
conservatism  which  will  forever  maintain  the  supremacy  of  Saratoga 
among  American  watering  places. 

SCALPING  was  practiced  by  both  French  and  English  through- 
out the  Colonial  wars.  They  took  not  only  the  scalps  of  Indians  but 
those  of  white  men  as  well,  and  at  some  of  the  more  atrocious  massa- 
cres it  also  appears  that  women  and  children  were  scalped  in  true 
Indian  fashion.  Some  of  the  early  writers  justified  the  taking  of 
scalps  from  Indians  on  the  ground  that  it  increased  Indian  respect 
for  white  men  as  fighters.  The  custom  might  better  be  attributed, 
however,  to  the  thoroughness  with  which  the  first  white  invaders  of 
the  wilderness  copied  all  of  the  methods  of  warfare  of  their  savage 
opponents  and  allies.  Rogers  in  his  journal  repeatedly  tells  of  the 
scalps  that  he  or  his  rangers  took  in  their  skirmishes  with  the  French. 
With  a  fine  sense  of  propriety,  however,  he  adopted  a  different  tone 
when  explaining  in  England  how  the  Indians  waged  war  in  America. 
"They  always  scalped  their  victims,"  he  said,  "for  such  is  their  barbar- 
ous custom."  During  Amherst's  Campaign  of  1759  against  Ticon- 
deroga  the  scalping  of  women  and  children  was  expressly  forbidden 
in  General  Orders  of  June  12th.  "It  is  the  General's  orders  that  no 
scouting  parties  or  others  in  the  army  under  his  command  shall, 
whatsoever  opportunity  they  have,  scalp  any  women  or  children 
belonging  to  the  enemy.  They  may  bring  them  away  if  they  can; 
but,  if  not,  they  are  to  leave  them  unhurted;  and  he  is  determined 
that,  if  they  (the  French)  should  murther  or  scalp  any  women  or 
children  who  are  subjects  of  the  king  of  England,  he  will  revenge  it 
by  the  death  of  two  men  of  the  enemy,  whenever  he  has  occasion, 
for  every  man,  woman,  or  child  murthered  by  the  enemy." 

SCHENECTADY  MASSACRE.  Schenectady  stands  on  the  site 
of  the  great  Mohawk  "castle"  and  capital  of  the  Five  Nations.  It 
was  settled  by  Arendt  Van  Curler,  or  Corlear,  from  whom  Lake 
Champlain  received  one  of  its  early  names,  Corlear's  Lake.  In 
February,  1690,  a  party  of  one  hundred  French  and  as  many  Indians, 
the  latter  under  the  leadership  of  Kryn,  "The  Great  Mohawk,"  all 
being  sent  southward  from  Quebec  by  Frontenac,  approached  the 
town  at  midnight,  on  snowshoes,  in  the  midst  of  a  driving  snow- 
storm, entered  without  being  discovered,  awoke  the  two  hundred 
and  fifty  inhabitants  with  the  war-whoop,  killed  sixty  on  the  spot, 
captured  ninety,  and  of  the  sixty-six  houses  burned  all  but  six. 

[109] 


THE  SUMMER  PARADISE  IN  HISTORY 

The  following  "ballad"  of  the  period,  according  to  the  expressed 
wish  of  the  writer,  supposed  to  have  been  a  member  of  the  garrison 
at  Albany,  has  stayed  on  earth  long  after  he  is  dead. 

"A  Ballad,  in  which  is  set  forth  the  horrid  cruelties  practiced 
by  the  French  and  Indians  on  the  night  of  the  8th  of  the  last 
February.  The  which  I  did  compose  last  night  in  the  space  of 
one  hour;  and  am  now  writing,  the  morning  of  Friday,  June 
12th,  1690." 

"God  prosper  long  our  king  and  queen, 

Our  lives  and  safeties  all; 
A  sad  misfortune  once  there  did 

Schenectady  befall. 
"From  forth  the  woods  of  Canada 

The  Frenchmen  took  their  way, 
The  people  of  Schenectady 
To  captivate  and  slay. 

"They  marched  for  two  and  twenty  daiea 

All  through  the  deepest  snow; 
And  on  a  dismal  winter  night. 

They  strucke  the  cruel  blow. 
"The  lightsome  sun  that  rules  the  day 

Had  gone  down  in  the  west; 
And  eke  the  drowsie  villagers 

Had  sought  and  found  their  reste. 
"They  thought  they  were  in  saftie 
And  dreampt  not  of  the  foe; 
But  att  midnight  they  all  awoke 

In  wonderment  and  woe. 
"For  they  were  in  their  pleasant  beddea 

And  soundelie  sleeping,  when 
Each  door  was  sudden  open  broke 

By  six  or  seven  men. 
"The  men  and  women,  younge  and  olde, 

And  eke  the  girls  and  boys, 
All  started  up  in  great  affright, 

Att  the  alarming  noise. 
"They  then  were  murther'd  in  their  beddes 

Without  shame  or  remorse; 
And  sopne  the  floors  and  street  were  strewed 

With  many  a  bleeding  corse. 
"The  village  soon  began  to  blaze, 

Which  shew'd  the  horrid  sight, — 
But,  O,  I  scarce  can  beare  to  tell 

The  mis'ries  of  that  night. 
"They  threw  the  infants  in  the  fire, 
The  men  they  did  not  spare, 
But  killed  all  which  they  could  find 
Though  aged  or  tho'  fair. 

[110] 


THE  SUMMER  PARADISE  IN  HISTORY 

"O,  Christe!    In  the  still  midnight  air 

It  sounded  dismally, 
The  women's  prayers,  and  the  loud  screams 

Of  their  great  agony. 
"Methinks  as  if  I  hear  them  now, 

All  ringing  in  my  ear, 
The  shrieks  and  groans  and  woeful  sighs 

They  uttered  in  their  fear. 
"But  some  run  off  to  Albany 

And  told  the  doleful  tale, 
Yett  though  we  gave  our  chearful  aid 

It  did  not  much  avail. 
"And  we  were  horribly  afraid, 

And  shook  with  terror,  when 
They  told  us  that  the  Frenchmen  were 

More  than  a  thousand  men. 
"The  news  came  on  the  Sabbath  morn 

Just  att  the  break  of  day, 
And  with  a  companie  of  horse 

I  galloped  away. 
"But  soon  we  found  the  French  were  gone 

With  all  then-  great  bootye, 
And  then  their  trail  we  did  pursue, 

As  was  our  true  dutye. 
"The  Mohaques  joyned  our  brave  partye, 

And  followed  in  the  chase, 
Till  we  came  up  with  the  Frenchmen, 

Att  a  most  likelye  place. 
"Our  soldiers  fell  upon  their  rear 

And  killed  twenty-five; 
Our  young  men  were  so  much  enrag'd 

They  took  scarce  one  alive. 
"D'Aillebout  them  did  commando 

Which  were  but  thievish  rogues, 
Else  why  did  they  consent  and  goe 

With  bloodye  Indian  dogges? 
"And  here  I  end  the  long  ballad 

The  which  you  just  have  redde, 
I  wish  that  it  may  stay  on  earth 
Long  after  I  am  dead." 

SCHUYLER  FAMILY  has,  from  the  earliest  times,  held  a  most 
prominent  place  in  the  history  of  the  country.  Philip  Pietersen  Van 
Schuyler  was  the  first  of  that  name  in  the  colony,  and  his  son,  Col. 
Peter  Schuyler,  was  first  mayor  of  Albany  when  it  was  incorporated 
in  1686.  It  was  Peter  who  led  an  expedition  against  Fort  La  Prairie 
(q.  v.)  in  1691,  following  the  one  of  his  brother,  John  Schuyler, 
against  the  same  place  in  1690.  Peter's  son  was  Gen.  Philip  Schuyler, 

[ill] 


THE  SUMMER  PARADISE  IN  HISTORY 

born  at  Albany  in  1733,  and  active  in  the  French  and  Indian  War 
and  in  the  Revolution.  In  the  latter  he  organized  the  expedition 
which  was  to  proceed  against  Canada  by  way  of  Lake  Champlain, 
but  was  forced  by  illness  to  turn  over  the  command  to  General  Mont- 
gomery. After  the  evacuation  of  Ticonderoga  by  St.  Clair,  he  was 
accused  of  neglect  of  duty  and  himself  demanded  a  full  and  complete 
trial  by  court-martial.  He  was  finally  acquitted  of  every  charge 
with  the  highest  honor,  and  this  acquittal  was  confirmed  by  Congress. 
His  daughter  Elizabeth  married  Alexander  Hamilton. 

The  Schuyler  mansion  stood  at  the  head  of  Schuyler  Street  in 
Albany,  and  it  was  in  this  house  that  Lafayette,  Baron  Steuben, 
Benjamin  Franklin,  and  many  other  notable  persona  were  enter- 
tained, among  them  being  Burgoyne,  who  came  there  as  a  prisoner 
after  the  surrender  at  Saratoga.  It  was  at  this  house,  in  the  summer 
of  1781,  that  Canadians  and  Indians  plotted  to  abduct  Gen.  Philip 
Schuyler  and  carry  him  from  his  home  in  Albany  to  Canada  for 
ransom.  The  house  was  surrounded  with  armed  men,  but  the 
General  had  been  warned,  and  barring  and  fastening  the  doors,  the 
family  rushed  upstairs,  only  to  remember  at  the  last  moment  that 
the  infant  daughter  had  been  left  sleeping  in  her  cradle  in  the  nursery. 
The  mother  was  flying  to  its  rescue,  but  the  General  held  her  back, 
as  the  doors  were  giving  way.  Thereupon  her  third  daughter  (after- 
wards wife  of  the  last  Patroon)  rushed  down-stairs,  caught  up  the 
infant  and  bore  it  off  in  safety.  As  she  ran,  an  Indian  hurled  his 
tomahawk,  which  cut  her  dress,  within  a  few  inches  of  the  child's  head, 
and  struck  the  stair-rail  at  the  lower  turn,  the  cut  being  visible  today. 
Frightened  by  the  supposed  approach  of  assistance  from  town,  the 
marauders  beat  a  retreat,  carrying  off  nothing  of  greater  value  than 
the  General's  silver. 

SCHUYLER  ISLAND,  in  Lake  Champlain,  on  the  northeastern 
side  of  Corlear  or  Douglas  Bay,  is  in  full  view  from  the  car  windows 
as  the  train  winds  around  the  beautiful  shores  of  the  bay.  It  is 
believed  to  have  derived  its  name  from  the  fact  that  Gen.  Philip 
Schuyler  encamped  there  several  days  on  an  expedition  to  Canada. 
After  Arnold's  battle  with  the  British  fleet  under  Carleton  (see  Battle 
of  Valcour),  and  when  he  had  slipped  away  from  Carleton  in  the 
darkness,  he  repaired  some  of  his  vessels,  which  were  in  sinking  con- 
dition, in  the  shelter  of  this  island. 

SOREL,  CAPTAIN  DE,  was  one  of  the  officers  of  the  Carignan- 
Salieres  (q.  v.)  regiment  sent  by  Marquis  de  Tracy  in  1660  to  build 

[112] 


Dillon,  McLellan  and  Beadel,  Architects  Carl  Augiutiu  Hebcr,  Sculptor 

CHAMPLAIN  MEMORIAL  AT  PLATTSBURG 


THE  DEEP  CLEFT  OF  SPLIT  ROCK   SEPARATED  IROQUOIS  FROM   ALGONQUINS 
AND  THE  COLONIES  FROM  CANADA 


THE  SUMMER  PARADISE  IN  HISTORY 

a  chain  of  forts  up  the  Richelieu  River  and  on  Lake  Champlain. 
His  memory  is  perpetuated  by  a  name  sometimes  applied  to  the 
Richelieu  River — the  Sorel. 

SPLIT  ROCK.  A  short  distance  north  of  Westport,  on  the  west 
side  of  Lake  Champlain,  is  a  remarkable  rock,  thirty  feet  high  and 
half  an  acre  in  extent,  which  is  separated  from  the  mountain  by  a  deep 
cleft  twelve  to  fifteen  feet  wide.  It  was  called  Rock  Regio  by  the  Indi- 
ans, from  an  Indian  chief  who  was  drowned  there,  and  who  was  be- 
lieved to  have  taken  up  his  residence  in  the  water  under  the  rock.  He 
had  power  over  the  winds  and  waves,  and  to  propitiate  him  the 
Indians  were  accustomed  to  throw  gifts  to  him  as  they  passed  in  their 
canoes.  Upon  the  return  of  De  Courcelles's Expedition  (q.  v.)  from  the 
Mohawk  in  1666,  Arendt  Van  Corlear  accompanied  the  party. 
When  opposite  Split  Rock,  so  said  the  Indians,  he  made  insulting 
gestures  to  the  chief  in  the  water,  upon  which  the  old  Indian  raised 
a  sudden  wind,  upset  the  canoe,  and  drowned  the  celebrated  Dutch- 
man for  his  lack  of  respect.  Split  Rock  was  the  boundary  between 
the  Mohawks  and  the  Algonquins,  and  in  1713  it  was  acknowledged 
by  the  Treaty  of  Utrecht  as  the  limit  of  English  dominions.  In  1760 
it  was  fixed  as  the  boundary  between  New  York  and  Canada.  This 
limit  was  officially  acknowledged  as  late  as  1774,  but  in  the  following 
year  the  Americans  passed  it  under  arms,  and  won  and  still  hold  the 
territory  for  seventy-seven  miles  to  the  north. 

SPRUCE  BEER.  In  describing  the  gathering  of  General  Amherst's 
forces  at  the  head  of  Lake  George,  in  1759,  Parkman  says:  "A 
frequent  employment  was  the  cutting  of  spruce  tops  to  make  spruce 
beer.  This  innocent  beverage  was  reputed  sovereign  against  scurvy ; 
and  such  was  the  fame  of  its  virtues  that  a  copious  supply  of  West 
India  molasses  used  in  concocting  it  was  thought  indispensable  to 
every  army  or  garrison  in  the  wilderness.  Throughout  this  cam- 
paign it  is  repeatedly  mentioned  in  general  orders,  and  the  soldiers 
are  promised  that  they  shall  have  as  much  as  they  want,  at  half- 
penny a  quart. " 

STARK,  JOHN,  was  born  at  Londonderry,  N.  H.,  August27, 1728, 
and  died  at  Manchester,  N.  H.,  May  8,  1822.  He  thus  lived  through 
the  most  strenuous  period  of  the  Colonial  wars,  the  Revolution,  and 
the  War  of  1812.  In  both  the  French  and  Indian  and  the  Revolu- 
tionary struggles  he  was  an  active  participant,  and  during  the  later 
years  of  his  life  the  recipient  of  an  homage  and  veneration  as  well 
earned  on  the  field  of  battle  as  that  of  any  soldier  in  American  history. 

[1131 


THE  SUMMER  PARADISE  IN  HISTORY 

Stark  first  saw  active  service  when  he  became  a  lieutenant  in 
Rogers's  Rangers  in  1755,  though  he  had  had  much  experience  in  the 
wilderness  before  this  as  a  hunter,  trapper  and  pioneer  and  as  a 
captive  for  a  short  period  among  the  St.  Francis  Indians  on  the  St. 
Lawrence.  Indeed,  so  quick  had  he  been  to  exhibit  those  virtues 
most  admired  by  the  Indians  that  he  was  given  considerable  freedom 
by  his  captors,  and  was  finally  adopted  into  the  tribe  as  one  of  its 
members. 

Throughout  the  records  of  the  French  and  Indian  War,  from 
1755  to  1759,  Stark's  name  recurs  with  unusual  frequency,  both  in 
the  reports  of  scouting  expeditions,  and  in  the  almost  equally  exciting 
accounts  of  the  fortified  camps.  It  is  recorded  that  the  attack  of 
Vaudreuil  on  Fort  William  Henry  (q.  v.),  in  the  early  morning  of 
March  18,  1757,  was  repulsed  solely  because  of  the  vigilance  of 
Stark.  On  the  eve  of  St.  Patrick's  Day  Stark  had  overheard  members 
of  an  Irish  regiment,  with  which  the  fort  was  garrisoned,  planning 
their  celebration  for  the  following  day.  He  thereupon  issued  orders 
to  the  sutler  that  no  rum  should  be  given  to  the  Rangers  under  his 
command  on  St.  Patrick's  Day  without  his  written  order.  Stark 
then  retired,  and  instructed  his  orderly  to  say  to  all  applicants  that 
his  hand  was  lame  and  he  could  issue  no  orders.  The  Rangers  were 
thus  reluctantly  obliged  to  look  on  at  the  celebration  of  the  Irish 
regiment,  and  incidentally  to  mount  guard  upon  the  walls  of  the  fort. 
Anticipating  just  such  a  celebration,  Vaudreuil  had  planned  his 
attack  for  that  night.  He  found  the  Rangers  waiting  at  the  first 
assault,  and  Stark  among  them,  all  lameness  gone  from  his  hand. 

On  another  occasion,  in  January,  1757,  when  a  party  of  Rangers 
had  retreated  before  a  superior  force  of  the  French  and  had  reached 
the  ice  on  Lake  George,  about  forty  miles  from  Fort  William  Henry, 
Stark  volunteered  to  proceed  to  the  fort  on  snowshoes  and  return 
with  sleighs  for  the  wounded.  All  the  preceding  day  and  night  he 
had  undergone  the  most  severe  exertion,  in  action  and  during  the 
retreat.  Nevertheless  he  covered  the  forty  miles  to  Fort  William 
Henry  by  evening,  and  returned  to  his  comrades  with  sleighs  and  a 
reinforcing  party  early  the  next  morning. 

Stark's  most  memorable  service  in  the  Revolution  was  the  defeat 
of  a  detachment  of  British  and  Hessians  under  Colonel  Baum,  which 
had  been  sent  by  Burgoyne  from  Saratoga  to  seize  supplies  located 
at  Bennington.  Stark  rallied  a  strong  force  of  volunteers  and  in  a 
severe  engagement  defeated  and  captured  the  British  and  Hessian 
detachment.  His  defeat  of  Baum  was  largely  responsible  for  the 

[114] 


THE  SUMMER  PARADISE  IN  HISTORY 

failure  of  Burgoyne's  Campaign  (q.  v.).  Stark  was  subsequently 
appointed  a  brigadier-general  in  the  Colonial  army  and  was  placed 
in  command  of  the  Northern  Department,  which  included  Lake 
George  and  Lake  Champlain,  the  scene  of  the  memorable  exploits 
of  his  earlier  life. 

STEVENSON,  ROBERT  LOUIS  (1850-94),  "the  best  loved 
writer  of  his  time,"  spent  several  months  in  1887-88  at  Saranac  Lake, 
in  the  Adirondacks,  making  the  brave  fight  for  life  which  he  kept 
up  uncomplainingly  till  the  end  came  in  far-away  Samoa.  The 
close  of  one  of  his  most  powerful  and  characteristic  novels,  "The 
Master  of  Ballantrae"  (1889),  is  laid  in  the  country  north  of  Albany . 
His  ballad  of  Ticonderoga  is  one  of  the  real  literary  products  of 
that  historic  place.  (See  Campbell,  Major  Duncan.) 

STONE,  WILLIAM  L.  (1792-1844),  was  a  newspaper  writer  and 
historian  who  paid  much  attention  to  events  and  individuals  con- 
nected with  Colonial  life  and  the  Revolution;  and  to  him  the  world 
is  indebted  for  the  truth  in  regard  to  many  things  about  which 
there  had  been  much  misstatement.  Among  his  works  are:  "Border 
Wars  of  the  American  Revolution,"  "Life  of  Joseph  Brant,"  "Life 
of  Red  Jacket,"  "Poetry  and  History  of  Wyoming,"  "Uncas  and 
Miantonomah."  His  only  son  and  namesake  (1835),  who  followed 
closely  in  his  father's  footsteps,  delivered  the  historical  address 
at  the  laying  of  the  corner-stone  of  the  Saratoga  monument,  and 
wrote  "Life  arid  Times  of  Sir  William  Johnson,"  "Letters  and  Jour- 
nals of  Mrs.  General  Riedesel,"  "Life  and  Military  Journals  of 
Major-General  Riedesel,"  "Reminiscences  of  Saratoga  and  Ballston," 
and  "  Ballads  of  the  Burgoyne  Campaign."  A  tablet  to  his  memory 
was  unveiled  by  his  family  at  the  dedication  ceremonies  of  the 
monument,  in  October,  1912. 

SULLIVAN'S  EXPEDITION  was  dispatched  in  1778  to  chastise 
the  Senecas  and  Tories  of  western  New  York  for  their  atrocities  in 
the  Wyoming  Valley.  Gen.  James  Clinton,  brother  of  Governor 
Clinton,  and  father  of  De  Witt  Clinton,  who  had  been  for  some  time  in 
command  at  Albany,  was  ordered  to  join  Sullivan  at  Tioga  Point,  on 
the  Susquehanna  River.  He  reached  Lake  Otsego  July  17th,  but, 
finding  the  outlet  too  shallow  for  his  purpose,  proceeded  to  dam  the 
water,  thereby  raising  the  lake  at  least  two  feet.  Meantime  the 
brigade  remained  in  Cooperstown  till  August  8th,  when  the  boats 
were  transferred  to  the  stream,  and  the  invalids,  baggage  and  pro- 
visions loaded  thereon.  The  remainder  of  the  soldiers  prepared  to 


THE  SUMMER  PARADISE  IN  HISTORY 

march  on  both  sides.  The  surplus  water  was  cautiously  drawn  off, 
and  with  the  overflow  thus  afforded  the  flotilla  was  carried  over 
shoals  and  flats,  reaching  Tioga  Point  in  time  to  co-operate  with 
Sullivan  and  win  the  Battle  of  Newtown  (now  Elmira).  The 
Indians  were  defeated  with  great  loss,  all  resistance  on  their  part 
was  crushed,  and  their  settlements  were  destroyed. 

SUSQUEHANNA  TRAIL.  "The  trails  which  followed  the  Sus- 
quehanna  and  branches  formed  the  great  route  to  the  south  and 
west  from  central  New  York.  Into  the  most  distant  regions  the 
tribes  of  the  Iroquois,  from  the  earliest  ages,  have  gone  over  this 
highway  of  their  own  building  for  purposes  of  war,  plunder  and 
pleasure.  Along  the  banks  of  this  stream  trails  had  been  deeply 
worn  by  red  men's  feet.  In  many  cases  the  white  men's  roads  were 
actually  built  by  widening  the  trails,  as  was  the  case  with  the  present 
road  from  Sidney  to  Unadilla,  on  the  north  side  of  the  river,  and 
the  main  thoroughfare  to  Oneonta.  An  Indian  trail  was  from  twelve 
to  eighteen  inches  wide,  and  often  worn  to  a  depth  of  a  foot  where 
the  soil  yielded.  In  time  of  war,  trained  runners  were  employed  to 
carry  messages.  One  Indian  could  run  one  hundred  miles  a  day." 
—Halsey,  in  "Old  New  York  Frontier." 

• 

rpELEGRAPH,  BIRTHPLACE  OF  THE.  In  the  upper  rooms 
J.  of  the  Albany  Academy,  Joseph  Henry,  from  1826  to  1832  one 
of  its  teachers,  first  demonstrated  the  principle  of  the  magnetic 
telegraph  in  transmitting  intelligence  by  ringing  a  bell  through  a 
mile  of  wire  strung  around  the  room.  Morse  subsequently  invented 
a  code  of  signals  and  the  machine  for  making  them,  and  the  thing 
was  done.  "The  click  heard  from  every  joint  of  those  mystic  wires 
which  now  link  together  every  city  and  village  all  over  this  continent 
is  but  the  echo  of  that  little  bell  which  first  sounded  in  the  upper 
room  of  the  Albany  Academy." 

• 

T  TNADILLA  was  the  place  where  the  last  attempt  was  made  to 
LJ  prevent  the  Six  Nations  from  joining  hands  with  the  English 
against  the  Americans  in  the  Revolution.  A  conference  was  held  there 
in  July,  1777,  between  General  Herkimer,  who  came  on  with  380 
militia,  and  Chief  Joseph  Brant,  at  the  head  of  130  warriors.  After 
a  long  talk  Brant  refused  to  remain  at  peace.  He  declared  that 
the  Indians  were  in  concert  with  the  King,  as  then:  fathers  and 
grandfathers  had  been ;  that  the  King's  belts  were  yet  lodged  with 

[116] 


THE  SUMMER  PARADISE  IN  HISTORY 

them,  and  they  could  not  falsify  their  pledge;  that  General  Herkimer 
and  the  rest  had  joined  the  Boston  people  against  the  King;  that 
Boston  people  were  resolute,  but  the  King  would  humble  them; 
that  the  Indians  had  formerly  made  war  on  the  whites  all  united, 
and  now  that  they  were  divided,  the  Indians  were  not  frightened.  The 
Indians  raised  the  war-whoop,  but  for  the  time  were  restrained  by 
Brant.  Just  then  the  bright  July  sun  was  clouded,  and  a  terrific 
storm  of  hail  and  rain  compelled  both  sides  to  seek  shelter,  an  omen, 
as  it  was  thought,  of  the  dire  events  that  soon  devastated  that 
unfortunate  frontier.  Unadilla  was  a  Tory  settlement,  and  suffered 
from  the  other  side. 


VALE  OF  TAWASENTHA  is  Longfellow's  Indian  name  for  the 
valley  of  the  Normanskill,  crossed  by  the  Susquehanna  Division 
of  the  Delaware  and  Hudson,  in  Albany  county.   It  was  the  home  of 
Nawadaha,  the  sweet  singer. 

"In  the  vale  of  Tawasentha, 

In  the  green  and  silent  valley, 

By  the  pleasant  water  courses 

Dwelt  the  singer  Nawadaha. 

Round  about  the  Indian  village 

Spread  the  meadows  and  the  cornfields, 

And  beyond  them  stood  the  forest, 

Stood  the  groves  of  singing  pine  trees, 

Green  in  summer,  white  in  winter, 

Ever  sighing,  ever  singing. 
"And  the  pleasant  water  courses; 

You  could  trace  them  through  the  valley 

By  the  rushing  in  the  springtime, 

By  the  alders  in  the  summer, 

By  the  white  fog  in  the  autumn, 

By  the  black  line  in  the  winter; 

And  beside  them  dwelt  the  singer, 

In  the  vale  of  Tawasentha. 

In  the  green  and  silent  valley. 
There  he  sang  of  Hiawatha, 
Sang  the  song  of  Hiawatha." 

— Longfellow. 

VAN  CORLEAR  OR  CURLER,  ARENDT,  was  a  Holland 
pioneer  of  the  Seventeenth  Century,  who  founded  Schenectady, 
made  peace  with  the  Indians,  and  for  many  years  had  jurisdiction 
from  Beeren  Island,  in  the  Hudson,  to  the  mouth  of  the  Mohawk, 
controlling  nearly  a  thousand  square  miles  of  fur-bearing  territory. 
He  waa  accidentally  drowned,  at  the  age  of  sixty-seven,  off  Split 

[117] 


THE  SUMMER  PARADISE  IN  HISTORY 

Rock  (q.  v.),  in  Lake  Champlain,  afterward  known  to  the  Dutch 
as  Corlear's  Lake. 

VAN  RENSSELAER,  GEN.  SOLOMON  (1774-1852),  who  is 
buried  in  the  Rural  Cemetery  (q.  v.),  was  with  "Mad"  Anthony 
Wayne  at  the  Battle  of  Maumee  Rapids,  August,  1794,  and  was 
shot  through  the  lungs.  He  refused  a  litter.  "You  young  dog," 
exclaimed  Wayne,  "how  are  you  going?"  "I  am  an  officer  of  the 
cavalry,"  was  the  reply,  "and  I  go  on  horseback."  "You  will 
drop  by  the  road,"  said  Wayne.  "If  I  do,  just  cover  me  up,  and  let 
me  die  there."  He  had  his  way,  rode  six  miles  supported  on  either 
side  by  a  dragoon,  and  lived  to  lead  the  attack  at  Queenston  Heights, 
October  13,  1812,  when  he  was  again  severely  wounded.  He  was 
afterwards  postmaster  at  Albany,  and  served  in  Congress.  His 
brother  Nicholas,  a  colonel  in  the  Revolution,  was  despatched  by 
General  Gates  to  carry  the  news  of  the  surrender  of  Burgoyne  to 
Albany. 

VAN  SCHAICK'S  ISLAND  is  one  of  the  three  in  the  Hudson 
at  the  mouth  of  the  Mohawk,  where,  in  the  summer  of  1777,  General 
Schuyler  cast  up  fortifications  to  dispute  with  Burgoyne  the  passage 
of  that  river,  should  he  ever  get  that  far.  The  earthworks  are  visible 
from  the  car  windows.  (See  Burgoyne's  Campaign,  and  Hudson 
River.) 

VROOMAN,  COL.  PETER,  commanded  the  Middle  Fort  in 
Schoharie  county  during  Johnson's  and  Brant's  invasion  in  October, 
1780.  He  was  prominent  in  all  the  border  warfare  of  this  section 
throughout  the  Revolution,  and  was  largely  responsible  for  the 
repulse  of  the  Tory  invaders.  A  monument  to  his  memory  was 
unveiled  at  the  Old  Stone  Fort  (q.  v.)  on  October  17,  1913,  by  the 
Daughters  of  the  American  Revolution. 

• 

WARNER,  SETH,  one  of  the  leaders  of  the  Green  Mountain 
Boys,  was  born  at  Roxbury,  Conn.,  May  17,  1743,  and  died 
there  December  26,  1784.  He  was  second  in  command  at  the 
capture  of  Ticonderoga  by  Ethan  Allen,  in  May,  1775,  and  was 
subsequently  a  colonel  of  Vermont  militia.  He  performed  much 
valuable  service  in  the  Revolution,  commanding  the  rear  guard  of 
St.  Clair's  retreating  army  at  Hubbardton.  He  was  a  prominent 
factor  in  the  Battle  of  Bennington,  which  had  such  disastrous  effect 
upon  the  fortunes  of  Burgoyne  at  Saratoga.  A  statue  of  him  now 
stands  beside  the  Battle  Monument  in  the  village  of  Old  Bennington. 

[H8J 


THE  SUMMER  PARADISE  IN  HISTORY 

WAR  PATH  OF  THE  NATIONS  has  been  applied  by  latter-day 
historians  to  the  old  military  road  built  by  Gen.  Sir  William  Johnson 
in  1755  (see  Johnson's  Expedition),  and  later  in  constant  use  for 
military  purposes  throughout  the  French  and  Indian  and  Revo- 
lutionary Wars.  It  led  from  Fort  Edward  to  Fort  William  Henry, 
and  its  location  practically  follows  the  main  streets  of  Hudson 
Falls,  Glens  Falls  and  Lake  George.  From  Glens  Falls  to  Lake 
George  its  course  has  been  marked  by  the  Glens  Falls  Chapter  of 
the  Daughters  of  the  American  Revolution.  Over  it  have  passed 
the  armies  of  Johnson,  Webb,  Abercrombie  and  Amherst;  the  forces 
of  Dieskau  and  the  flying  scouts  of  Montcalm;  the  British  troops 
under  Burgoyne  and  Riedesel;  the  American  commands  of  Arnold, 
Schuyler,  Stark  and  Gates;  and,  still  later,  the  troops  of  Gen. 
George  Izard  hurrying  to  the  support  of  Sackett's  Harbor,  in  the 
War  of  1812.  "The  Old  Indian  Road"— old  before  written  history 
began — it  contains  the  strategic  heart  of  the  continent;  and  while 
through  its  portals  today  there  flow  only  the  pulsing  throngs  of 
peace,  so  long  as  time  endures  it  will  rouse  a  just  and  martial  pride 
in  the  breast  of  every  patriotic  American. 

WATERVLIET  ARSENAL,  where  great  guns  are  cast,  is  one  of 
the  chief  ordnance  factories  of  the  United  States  Army.  Twelve 
acres  were  purchased,  and  the  first  buildings  erected  in  the  first 
decade  of  the  last  century.  They  stand  between  the  railroad  and 
the  river  in  Watervliet. 

WEBSTER'S  TOAST,  as  given  at  the  reception  to  General 
Lafayette  in  Albany,  July  1,  1825,  is  as  follows:  "The  ancient  and 
honorable  city  of  Albany,  where  General  Lafayette  found  his  head- 
quarters in  1778,  and  where  men  of  his  principles  find  good  quarters 
at  all  times." 

WHITEHALL,  formerly  Skenesborough,  was  founded  by  Philip 
Skene,  a  major  in  the  English  Army,  who,  in  1759,  was  given  a  large 
grant  of  land  on  Lake  Champlain,  which  he  increased  by  purchase 
to  about  60,000  acres.  He  was  made  governor  of  Crown  Point  and 
Ticonderoga,  judge  and  postmaster,  established  sawmills  and  foun- 
dries, constructed  and  sailed  vessels  on  the  lake,  and  opened  roads  to 
Albany.  His  house,  situated  on  William  Street,  was  of  stone,  thirty 
by  forty  feet,  two  and  one-half  stories  high;  and  his  barn,  also  of 
stone,  was  one  hundred  and  thirty  feet  long.  The  keystone  of  the 
arched  doorway,  bearing  the  letters  "  P.  K.  S."  and  the  date  "  1770, " 
is  preserved  in  the  walls  of  the  Baptist  Church.  In  the  Revolution  he 

[119] 


THE  SUMMER  PARADISE  IN  HISTORY 

and  his  son  acted  as  guides  to  Burgoyne  from  Canada;  but  when  the 
British  evacuated  Skenesborough,  their  commander,  General  Haldi- 
mand,  fearing  the  settlement  might  be  of  service  to  the  Americans, 
ordered  it  burned,  and  Colonel  Skene  saw  an  invested  fortune  and  the 
fruits  of  many  years '  labor  destroyed  by  his  own  countrymen.  Later 
he  was  attainted  of  treason  by  the  State  of  New  York,  and  his  estate 
confiscated.  So  he  returned  to  England  where  he  was  given  twenty 
thousand  pounds  and  a  life  pension.  During  the  War  of  1812,  the 
fort  and  blockhouse  at  Whitehall  were  rebuilt  by  the  Americans. 

WILKES-BARRE,  in  Luzerne  county,  Pennsylvania,  the  southern 
terminus  of  the  Delaware  and  Hudson,  was  named  after  John  Wilkes 
and  Col.  Isaac  Barre,  advocates  of  the  Colonists  in  the  British 
Parliament  during  and  preceding  the  Revolution.  It  was  settled 
in  1769,  but  five  years  later,  during  the  Pennamite- Yankee  War, 
twenty-three  out  of  twenty-six  buildings  were  burned,  and  it  was 
rather  slow  in  again  getting  started.  The  Wyoming  Monument, 
near-by,  marks  the  site  of  one  of  the  most  sanguinary  episodes  of  the 
Revolution.  (See  Wyoming  Massacre.) 

WILLIAMS  MONUMENT,  a  huge  boulder  near  Lake  George, 
was  placed  in  position  in  1854,  by  graduates  of  Williams  College,  to 
commemorate  the  founder  of  that  institution,  who  was  instantly 
killed  while  at  the  head  of  his  command,  September  8,  1777,  in  his 
forty-second  year.  (See  Battle  of  Lake  George.)  It  is  said  that, 
while  on  his  way  with  twelve  hundred  New  England  soldiers  to  join 
General  Johnson,  he  had,  at  Albany,  a  presentiment  of  early  death, 
and  then  and  there  made  a  will  leaving  the  most  of  his  property  to 
found  a  free  school  at  Williamstown,  Mass.,  the  funds  from  which, 
after  accumulation  for  thirty  years,  became  the  foundation  of  the 
college. 

WILLIAMS  MONUMENT,  THE  DAVID,  stands  in  the  yard 
near  the  Old  Stone  Fort  (q.  v.),  in  Schoharie.  It  was  erected  in  1876, 
by  the  State  of  New  York,  to  commemorate  one  of  the  captors  of 
Maj.  John  Andr6,  who  was  arrested  as  a  spy,  September  23,  1780, 
and  hanged  October  2  of  the  same  year.  So  impressed  was  General 
Washington  with  the  patriotism  of  these  three  men  in  refusing  all 
bribes  offered  by  AndrS  for  his  release  that,  although  they  delivered 
up  their  prisoner  without  claiming  any  reward,  or  even  leaving  their 
names,  Washington  sought  them  out,  and  on  his  recommendation 
Congress  presented  each  with  a  silver  medal  bearing  on  one  side  the 
word  Fidelity  and  on  the  other  the  legend  Vincet  amor  patriae. 

[120] 


THE  SUMMER  PARADISE  IN  HISTORY 

Williams  also  received  a  pension  of  $2,000  a  year  from  the  govern- 
ment. After  the  war  he  bought  a  farm  in  Albany  county  that  had 
been  the  property  of  Daniel  Shays,  the  leader  of  Shays's  Rebellion. 
In  December,  1830,  he  visited  New  York  by  invitation  of  the  Mayor, 
who  gave  him  a  horse,  harness  and  carriage,  and  the  pupils  of  one 
of  the  public  schools  gave  him  a  silver  cup.  He  died  near  Livingston- 
ville,  August  2,  1831,  aged  77. 

WING'S  FALLS  was  the  original  name  of  Glens  Falls,  the  name 
being  changed,  it  is  said,  as  a  result  of  a  wine  supper  given  by  Col. 
John  Glen  of  Schenectady,  quartermaster  during  the  French  and 
Indian  and  also  the  Revolutionary  Wars. 

WINTHROP'S  EXPEDITION.  Following  the  Schenectady 
Massacre  (q.  v.)i  which  occurred  February  8,  1690,  and  brought  the 
English  colonists  to  a  realization  of  the  danger  which  threatened 
from  the  north,  Governor  Leisler,  of  the  Province  of  New  York, 
proposed  a  union  of  the  New  York  and  New  England  colonies,  for 
the  purpose  of  driving  the  French  from  Canada.  In  furtherance  of 
this  plan,  he  called  in  New  York,  in  April,  the  first  Colonial  Congress 
that  ever  assembled  in  America.  It  was  finally  agreed  that  an  army 
of  about  eight  hundred  should  be  raised,  and  the  number  of  men  to 
be  provided  were  apportioned  among  New  York,  Massachusetts, 
Connecticut  and  Plymouth.  Even  Maryland  to  the  south  promised 
one  hundred.  The  command  was  given  to  Fitz  John  Winthrop,  who 
was  commissioned  a  major-general  for  the  purpose.  He  left  Hartford, 
Connecticut,  on  July  14th,  and  in  seven  days  (for  the  country  was 
then  almost  impassable)  arrived  in  Albany,  where  the  balance  of 
the  troops  were  finally  collected.  On  the  30th  of  July  the  advance 
was  begun.  The  army  was  small  and  correspondingly  mobile,  yet 
the  difficulties  which  it  met  in  its  march  northward  through  the 
wilderness  were  well  nigh  insuperable.  We  have  an  accurate  account 
of  its  progress,  drawn  from  original  sources,  by  Benjamin  Clapp 
Butler,  which  is  of  much  interest  today  as  a  contrast  between  modern 
transportation  and  the  laborious  progress  of  Winthrop's  little  com- 
mand. The  trains  of  the  Delaware  and  Hudson  now  leave  the  old 
Northeast  Gate  of  Fort  Orange  (see  Albany),  and  in  less  than  three 
hours  traverse  mile  by  mile  the  same  route  that  Winthrop's  forces, 
going  light,  and  inured  to  forest  travel,  covered  so  wearisomely 
in  three  times  that  number  of  days. 

"On  the  30th  the  New  England  troops  and  the  Indians 
moved  up  four  miles,  and  encamped  upon  the  flats  (Watervliet). 

[1211 


THE  SUMMER  PARADISE  IN  HISTORY 

"August  1.  Quartered  at  Stillwater,  'so  named  because  the 
water  passes  so  slowly  as  not  to  be  discovered ;  while  above  and 
below  it  is  disturbed  and  rageth,  as  in  a  great  sea,  occasioned 
by  rocks  and  falls  therein.' 

"August  2d.  The  General  moved  forward  to  Saraghtoga 
(Schuylerville),  about  fifty  miles  from  Albany,  where  was  a 
blockhouse  and  some  Dutch  soldiers.  At  this  place,  he  was 
joined  by  Mr.  Wessels,  recorder  of  Albany,  and  a  company 
of  the  principal  gentlemen,  volunteers  from  that  city.  He 
here  got  letters  from  Maj.  Peter  Schuyler,  the  mayor  of 
Albany,  who  had  preceded  him  with  the  Dutch  troops,  to  the 
effect  that  he  was  up  to  the  Second  Carrying  Place  (Fort  Miller), 
making  canoes  for  the  army.  Thus  _  far  'the  way  had  been 
very  good,  only  four  great  wading  rivers,  one  of  them  (the 
Mohawk)  dangerous  for  both  horse  and  man.' 

"August  4th.  Divided  the  provisions,  thirty-five  cakes  of 
bread  to  each  soldier,  besides  the  pork,  and  moved  up  eight 
miles  (to  Fort  Miller) ;  the  Dutch  soldiers  carrying  up  their 
supplies  in  their  birch  canoes  and  the  Connecticut  troops 
carrying  them  on  horses.  Here  'the  water  passeth  so  violently, 
by  reason  of  the  great  falls  and  rocks,  that  canoes  cannot  pass, 
so  they  were  forced  to  carry  their  provisions  and  canoes  on  their 
backs,  a  pretty  ways  to  a  passable  part  of  the  river.' 

"August  5th.  The  soldiers  marched,  with  their  provisions 
on  horses,  about  eight  miles,  to  the  Great  Carrying  Place  (Fort 
Edward),  the  Dutch  having  gone  up  in  their  canoes. 

"August  6th.  The  command  marched  over  the  Carrying 
Place  twelve  miles,  to  the  forks  on  Wood  Creek  (Fort  Ann). 
The  way  was  up  a  continual  swamp  abounding  with  tall  white 
pine.  The  New  York  companies  excited  the  General's  admira- 
tion at  the  vigorous  manner  in  which,  and  without  any  repining, 
they  carried  their  canoes  and  provisions  across  upon  their  backs. 

"August  7th.  Having  sent  thirty  horses  back  to  Saraghtoga 
for  more  provisions,  under  command  of  Ensign  Thomilson,  the 
General  passed  down  the  creek  with  two  files  of  musketeers, 
in  bark  canoes,  flanked  by  the  Indians  marching  by  the  river- 
side, commanded  by  Captain Stanton,  totheHautkill  (Whitehall), 
where  he  encamped  with  Major  Schuyler  and  the  Mohawk 
captains,  on  the  north  side  of  Wood  Creek. 

"On  the  9th  of  August,  information  came  through  Captain 
Johnson,  who  had  been  sent  to  Albany  some  days  since  to 
procure  additional  supplies  of  provisions,  that  the  Senecas  and 
other  Indians,  whom  he  expected  to  meet  at  the  Isle  La  Motte, 
near  the  north  end  of  Lake  Champlain,  had  not  left  their 
country  on  account  of  the  small-pox  breaking  out  among  them. 
The  expression  they  used  was  'that  the  Great  God  had  stopt 
their  way.'  The  small-pox  had  also  broken  out  in  the  army, 
and  seriously  reduced  the  available  force. 

"In  the  meantime  Major  Schuyler  had  sent  forward  Capt. 
Sanders  Glen  with  a  scouting  party  of  twenty-eight  men  and 

[122] 


THE  SUMMER  PARADISE  IN  HISTORY 

five  Indians  (the  same  one  who  had  been  spared  at  the  Schenec- 
tady  Massacre),  who  had  proceeded  as  far  as  '  Ticonderoga,' 
where  he  erected  some  stone  breastworks,  and  had  been  since 
the  fifth  of  August  waiting  for  the  expedition  to  come  up. 

"It  was  now  found  that  the  time  was  so  far  spent,  the  bark 
would  not  peel,  so  no  more  canoes  could  be  made. 

"The  provisions  were  also  giving  out,  and  it  was  ascertained 
from  the  commissaries  at  Albany  that  no  further  considerable 
supply  could  be  forwarded.  It  was,  therefore,  on  the  15th, 
resolved  in  a  council  of  war  to  return  with  the  army." 

Though  Winthrop's  Expedition  was  a  failure,  a  portion  of  his 
forces,  under  Captain  John  Schuyler,  of  that  family  which  was 
always  at  the  forefront  in  the  Colonial  wars  (see  Schuyler  Family), 
proceeded  on  down  Lake  Champlain,  as  the  army  turned  back,  and 
delivered  the  first  attack  upon  Fort  La  Prairie  (q.  v.). 

WOOD  CREEK,  which  flows  into  South  Bay,  at  the  head  of 
Lake  Champlain,  was  an  important  portion  of  the  water  highway 
between  the  St.  Lawrence  and  the  Hudson.  It  was  navigable  for 
canoes  to  a  point  within  eleven  miles  of  the  Hudson  at  Fort  Ed- 
ward. The  portage  between  these  two  places  was  known  as  the 
Great  Carrying  Place,  and  the  route  was  often  used  by  both  French 
and  English.  Today  it  lies  on  the  highway  between  Albany  and 
Montreal,  the  tracks  of  the  Delaware  and  Hudson  Railroad  following 
it  mile  for  mile  after  leaving  Fort  Edward.  The  sluggish  waters 
of  the  creek  flow  silently  beside  the  car  windows,  giving  never  a  hint 
to  travelers  and  vacationists  of  the  savage  war  parties  and  scarcely 
less  relentless  military  expeditions  that  once  plied  its  waters. 

WYOMING  MASSACRE.  The  beautiful  Wyoming  Valley, 
about  twenty-one  miles  long  by  three  wide,  through  which  runs  the 
north  branch  of  the  Susquehanna  River,  was  early  claimed,  under 
charter  rights,  by  both  Connecticut  and  Pennsylvania,  although  no 
attempt  was  made  at  settlement  till  1763,  when  the  Susquehanna 
Company,  of  Connecticut,  which  had  purchased  the  lands  from  the 
Indians  about  ten  years  previous,  sent  out  colonists.  But  in  less 
than  twelve  months  they  were  all  massacred  or  driven  away.  In  1768 
Pennsylvania  also  bought  the  land  from  the  Indians,  and  established 
a  settlement  the  year  following.  About  the  same  time  another  party 
arrived  from  Connecticut,  and  there  was  continual  strife  between 
the  two,  till,  in  1771,  the  king  confirmed  the  claim  of  Connecticut. 
On  the  breaking  out  of  the  Revolution  the  eastern  settlers,  after 
expelling  what  few  Tories  there  were  in  the  neighborhood,  resolved 

[123] 


THE  SUMMER  PARADISE  IN  HISTORY 

that  they  would  "unanimously  join  our  brethren  of  Connecticut 
in  the  common  cause  of  defending  our  country."  But  in  1778  the 
expelled  Tories  and  an  additional  white  force,  with  seven  hundred 
Indians,  eleven  hundred  in  all,  led  by  John  Butler,  marched  against 
the  settlement.  At  first  the  settlers  took  refuge  hi  the  "  Forty  Fort, " 
near  the  present  Wilkes-Barre,  but,  on  July  3,  about  all  the  males 
(400)  sallied  forth  to  attack  the  invaders,  and  were  disastrously 
defeated,  two-thirds  of  their  number  being  killed,  captured  or 
massacred.  The  remainder  took  refuge  in  the  fort,  which  the  next 
day  surrendered.  Many  prisoners  were  killed  and  tortured  by 
Indian  squaws,  and  the  sufferings  of  those  who  sought  to  escape 
were  terrible.  "Shades  of  Death"  is  the  name  by  which  a  swamp  near 
Wilkes-Barre  is  known,  and  where  a  hundred  women  perished  of 
fatigue  and  starvation  following  the  massacre. 


"\7~ANKEE  DOODLE.    The  tune  itself  is  very  old,  and  may  have 
JL  originated  either  in  Holland,  France  or  Spain.  It  was  sung  in 
England  in  the  reign  of  Charles  I,  and  words  were  set  to  it  in  ridicule 
of  Cromwell: 

"Yankee  Doodle  came  to  town 

Upon  a  Kentish  pony, 
He  stuck  a  feather  in  his  cap 
Upon  a  macaroni." 

In  the  summer  of  1758,  while  the  British  Army,  under  the  un- 
fortunate General  Abercrombie,  lay  encamped  in  Greenbush,  now 
Rensselaer,  on  the  grounds  belonging  to  Jeremiah  Van  Rennselaer, 
in  anticipation  of  the  march  to  Crown  Point,  which  ended  so  disas- 
trously at  FortTiconderoga,  reinforcements,  consisting  of  Continental 
Militia,  arrived  from  the  east.  Their  uniforms,  and  the  lack  thereof, 
their  accoutrements  and  general  appearance  afforded  much  food 
for  mirth  among  the  regulars.  Attached  to  the  staff  of  the  command- 
ing general  was  a  musical  wit  named  Dr.  Richard  Shuckburg,  after- 
wards appointed  Secretary  of  Indian  Affairs  by  Sir  William  Johnson, 
and  he,  with  an  idea  of  teasing  rather  than  pleasing,  wrote  down  the 
notes  of  the  old  tune,  changing  the  words  slightly,  and  gave  the 
composition  to  the  chief  musician  of  the  Eastern  troops  as  the 
latest  martial  music  of  England.  Greatly  to  his  surprise  and  amuse- 
ment, it  was  taken  seriously,  and  the  camp  rang  morning,  noon  and 
night  with  the  strains  of  Yankee  Doodle,  which,  then  and  there,  was 
unanimously  adopted  as  the  favorite  air  of  the  Continental  Militia, 
and  served  as  such  throughout  the  Revolution. 

[124] 


BIBLIOGRAPHY 

ALBANY  HIGH  SCHOOL  STUDENTS 

Historic  Albany:  A  manual  of  Albany .  Prepared  by  the  American 
History  Students  of  the  Albany  High  School,  for  the  New 
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densed information  and  a  further  bibliography  of  Albany. 

APPLETON'S  CYCLOPEDIA  OF  AMERICAN  BIOGRAPHY 
ARMSTRONG,  JOHN 

Life  of  Gen.  Richard  Montgomery.  In  Sparks' 8  Library  of 
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BANKS,  A.  BLEECKER 
Albany  Bi-Centennial. 

BEAUCHAMP,  WILLIAM  M. 

History  of  the  New  York  Iroquois.    Publications  of  New  York 

State  Educational  Department,  Albany. 
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State  Educational  Department,  Albany. 
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BOSSOM,  ALFRED  C. 

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Society,  1913. 

BRANDOW,  J.  H. 

Story  of  Old  Saratoga. 

BUTLER,  BENJAMIN  CLAPP 

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CAMPBELL,  W.  W. 

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COFFIN,  R.  B. 

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CONVERSE,  HARRIET  MAXWELL 

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COOPER,  J.  F. 

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CREASY,  SIR  EDWARD  SHEPHERD 
Fifteen  Decisive  Battles  of  the  World. 

CROCKETT,  WALTER  HILL 
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CUTTER,  WILLIAM 
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DOCUMENTS  RELATING  TO  THE  COLONIAL  HISTORY 
OF  THE  STATE  OF  NEW  YORK 

These  are  published  by  the  State  of  New  York,  and  constitute  an 
invaluable  collection  for  those  whose  interest  takes  them  further 
than  the  narratives  of  secondary  writers. 

EVERETT,  EDWARD 

Life  of  John  Stark.    In  Sparks' s  Library  of  American  Biography. 

GRAHAM,  JAMES 

Life  of  Gen.  Dan  Morgan. 

HALL,  HENRY 

Life  of  Ethan  Allen. 

HALSEY 

Old  New  York  Frontier. 

HILL,  HENRY  WAYLAND 

The  Champlain  Tercentenary:  Report  of  the  New  York  State 
Lake  Champlain  Tercentenary  Commission. 

HOLDEN,  JAMES  AUSTIN 

New  Historical  Light  on  the  Real  Burial  Place  of  George 
Augustus  Lord  Viscount  Howe.  In  Transactions  of  New 
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Historic  Towns  of  the  Middle  States. 

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Cyclopaedia  of  U.  S.  History. 

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The  Hudson  from  the  Wilderness  to  the  Sea. 
Life  of  Gen.  Philip  Schuyler. 

LOUNSBURY 

Life  of  James  Fenimore  Cooper. 

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PALMER,  PETER  S. 

History  of  Lake  Champlain. 

PARKMAN,  FRANCIS 

Pioneers  of  France  in  the  New  World. 

The  Jesuits  in  North  America. 

The  Old  Regime  in  Canada  under  Louis  XIV. 

Count  Frontenac  and  New  France  under  Louis  XIV. 

A  Half  Century  of  Conflict. 

Montcalm  and  Wolfe. 

Historic  Handbook  of  the  Northern  Tour.    A  condensation  of 

much  of  the  material  from  the  above  volumes,  referring  to  the 

struggles  in  the  Champlain  Valley. 

PELL,  HOWLAND 

The  Germain  Redoubt  at  Ticonderoga.  In  Eighteenth  Annual 
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REYNOLDS,  CUYLER 

Albany  Chronicles. 

ROOSEVELT,  THEODORE 
Naval  War  of  1812. 

SILLIMAN,  PROF.  B. 

Tour  Between  Hartford  and  Quebec. 

SIMMS,  JEPTHA  R. 

History  of  Schoharie  County. 
Border  Wars. 

SPARKS,  JARED 

Life  of  Ethan  Allen.    In  Sparks' s  Library  of  American  Biography. 

STARK,  CALEB 

Memoir  and  Official  Correspondence  of  Gen.  John  Stark. 

STONE,  WILLIAM  L. 

Border  Wars  of  the  American  Revolution. 

Life  of  Joseph  Brant. 

Life  of  Red-Jacket. 

Poetry  and  History  of  Wyoming. 

Uncas  and  Miantonomah. 

STONE,  WILLIAM  L.,  JR. 

Life  and  Times  of  Sir  William  Johnson. 

Letters  and  Journals  of  Mrs.  General  Riedesel. 

Life  and  Military  Journals  of  Major-General  Riedesel. 

Reminiscences  of  Saratoga  and  Ballston. 

Ballads  of  the  Burgoyne  Campaign. 

[127] 


THE  SUMMER  PARADISE  IN  HISTORY 

SYLVESTER,  NATHANIEL  BARTLETT 

Historical  Sketches  of  Northern  New  York  and  the  Adirondack 
Wilderness. 

TARBOX,  INCREASE  N. 
Life  of  Israel  Putnam. 

THOMPSON,  DANIEL  PIERCE 
The  Green  Mountain  Boys. 
The  Rangers;  or  the  Tory's  Daughter. 

WALWORTH,  ELLEN  HARDIN 

Historic  Towns. 

WATSON,  WINSLOW  C. 

Pioneer  History  of  the  Champlain  Valley. 

WEISE,  ARTHUR  JAMES 

History  of  the  City  of  Albany. 


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